• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.130-139
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• 1994

A cycle analysis was performed for 2-stage expansion Claude refrigerators by a numerical method. The refrigerators are under recent development such that the reciprocating expanders of Collins cycle are replaced by new turboexpanders. A computer simulation program was written to predict the coefficient of performance of the refrigerators for several input parameters. It was found out that there exist unique optimum values for the ratio of expanded mass through the turboexpanders to the total mass and for the intermediate pressure of the 2-stage expansion. The maximum coefficient of performance was about $5{\times}10^{-4}$ at the optimal operation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.141-148
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• 2015

The cryogenic cooling system should maintain the HTS power cable below 77 K. As the length of HTS power cables has increased, there have been many efforts to develop large capacity cryocoolers. Brayton, Joule-Thomson, and Claude refrigerators were considered for the large capacity cryocooler. Among the various cryocoolers, the Brayton refrigerator is the most competitive in terms of the HTS power cable. At present, it is thought that a 10-kW class refrigerator will be able to be used as a unit cooling system for the commercialization of HTS power cables in the near future. The Brayton refrigerator is composed of recuperative heat exchangers, a compressor, and a cryogenic turbo expander. Among the various components, the cryogenic turbo expander is the part that decreases the temperature, and it is the most significant component that is closely related with overall system efficiency. It rotates at high speed using high-pressure helium or neon gas at cryogenic temperatures. This paper describes the design of a 300-W class Brayton refrigeration cycle and the cryogenic turbo expander as a downscale model for the practical 10-kW class cycle. Flow and structural analyses are performed on the rotating impeller and nozzle to verify the efficiency and the design performance.