Abstract
An experimental study on the Joule-Thomson cryocooler with the mixed refrigerant (MR) is described in this paper, J-T refrigeration experiment was performed with a single stage regular air-conditioning compressor The mixed refrigerant in the experiment was composed of 75% mol fraction of $N_2$. 30% moi fraction of CH$_4$. 30% moi fraction of $C_2$H$_{6}$. 10% mot fraction of $C_3$H$_{8}$ and 15% mot fraction of iso-C$_4$H$_{10}$. Oil mist in the MR stream could be eliminated completely by the glass microfiber filter. Since a single stage compressor that had been designed thor R22 is not appropriate for high Pressure ratio of the mixed refrigerant especially during the transient period. two modifications were incorporated to regular J-T refrigeration cycle. First. a Portion of the MR was by-passed at the inlet of the heat exchanger and transferred directly to 7he suction of the compressor in the modified system. Second, a buffer volume was Prepared to change the mass flow rate of refrigerant. The pressure ratio in J-T expansion device was relieved at the beginning of the operation due to the by-Pass scheme. but it gradually decreased during the transient Process as some of the MR component condensed at low temperature. The buffer volume at the suction side was used to increase the MR gas density in the system after the transient cool-down period. Form the experiment with the modified system, the refrigerator could reach the lowest temperature of -152$^{\circ}C$ without cooling load. and about -15$0^{\circ}C$ with 5 W of cooling load . . . .