• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.95-102
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• 2008

A miniature metal bellows is used to minimize the excessive flow of the cryogenic gas in Joule-Thomson micro cryocooler. It is made of metal alloy and its geometry is axisymmetric. The bellows is filled with high pressure gas. It contracts or expands in the axial direction for a wide change of temperature, because the pressure and volume inside the bellows must be satisfied with state equation of the gas. Therefore, in order to design the bellows in Joule-Thomson micro-cryocooler, it is important to evaluate deformation of the bellows under internal pressure exactly. Considering geometric nonlinearity, deformations analysis of the bellows were obtained by a commercial finite element code ANSYS, The bellows was modeled by 3-node axisymmetric shell elements with reduced integration. Experiments were also performed to prove the validity of proposed numerical analysis. The results by numerical analysis and experiments were shown in good agreements.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.81-88
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• 2009

Bellows is used to control temperature of a Joule-Thomson micro cryocooler. It is made of Nickelcobalt alloy that retains mechanical properties from cryogenic temperature to temperature of 570K. The geometry of bellows is an axisymmetric shell and Nitrogen with high pressure was charged at temperature of 293K. During cool-down process, the pressure and volume of Nitrogen are changed and must be satisfied with state equation. At cryogenic temperature, Nitrogen can exist as a part liquid and part vapor. Pressure-density-temperature behavior under this vaporliquid phase equilibrium is closely given by the Modified-Benedict-Webb-Rubin(MBWR) state equation. To evaluate deformation of bellows for temperature change, the numerical calculation of the volume within bellows and finite element analysis of bellows under internal pressure were iteratively performed until MBWR state equation is satisfied. The numerical results show that deformation of the bellows can be analyzed by the present method in a wide range of temperature including cryogenic temperature.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.429-435
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• 2015

A bellows is an important temperature control component in a Joule-Thomson micro-cryocooler. It is designed using a very thin shell, and the inside of the bellows is filled with nitrogen gas. The bellows is made of a nickel-cobalt alloy that maintains its strength and elastic properties in a wide range of temperatures from cryogenic to $300^{\circ}C$. The pressure of the gas and the volume within the bellows vary according to the temperature of the gas. As a result, the bellows contracts or expands in the axial direction like a spring. To explore this phenomenon, the deformation of the bellows and its internal volume must be calculated iteratively under a modified pressure until the state equation of the gas is satisfied at a given temperature. In this paper, the modified Benedict-Webb-Rubin state equation is adopted to describe the temperature-volume-pressure relations of the gas. Experiments were performed to validate the proposed method. The results of a numerical analysis and the experiments showed good agreement.