Nasa Cr-145078 Study of a Vuilleumier Cycle
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NASA CR-145078 STUDY OF A VUILLEUMIER CYCLE CRYOGENIC REFRIGERATOR FOR DETECTOR COOLING ON THE LIMB SCANNING INFRARED RADIOMETER by Samuel C. Russo JULY 1976 Prepared under Contract NAS 1-14337 by HUGHES AIRCRAFT CpMPANY x Culver City, California ^^ for National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA CR-145078 STUDY OF A VUILLEU.MIER CYCLE CRYOGENIC REFRIGERATOR FOR DETECTOR COOLING ON THE LIMB SCANNING. INFRARED RADIOMETER July 1976 Samuel C. Russo Prepared under Contract NAS 1-14337 by ;.! . HUGHES AIRCRAFT COMPANY • ' Culver City, California !„,.'•..•, '• for NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration IY CONTENTS I INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY 1 II VM CYCLE THEORY OF OPERATION. 5 in DETERMINATION OF CRYOGENIC COOLING REQUIREMENTS ... 9 IV THERMODYNAMIC DESIGN AND PARAMETRIC PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS 16 Thermodynamic Design Analysis 16 Parametric Performance Analysis 20 Calculations of Transient Performance 29 V CONCEPTUAL MECHANICAL DESIGN 32 Dynamic Balance 32 Description of Refrigerator 35 Interfaces 43 Electronic Interface Unit . 47 VI IMPLEMENTATION PLAN . 53 General Tasks 54 Test Plans 55 Schedule 57 VII RELIABILITY AND LIFE STUDIES 58 VIII CONCLUSIONS 61 APPENDIX A DESIGN SPECIFICATION 63 APPENDIX B INHERENT THERMODYNAMIC AND HEAT TRANSFER LOSSES OF VM REFRIGERATOR 82 APPENDIX C DESCRIPTION OF INPUT COMMANDS 87 EFERENCES.......................................... "M 111 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1 Schematic of basic two-stage VM cryogenic refrigerator 6 2 Indicator diagrams of first- and second-stage expansion volumes 7 3 Indicator diagrams of expansion hot volume and crankcase volume 8 4 Typical small VM cooler (71-7244) .~77TT. 10 5 Thermal loads from detector support 13 6 Effect of ground operation on wear rate of hot rider ring ...... 15 7 Refrigeration load as functions of heater power (three mechanizations) 18 8 Effect of crankcase and hot cylinder temperature on heater power for refrigerator A ....."25 9 Effect of crankcase and hot cylinder temperature on heater power for refrigerator B '. 25 10 Effect of crankcase and hot cylinder temperature on heater power for refrigerator C 26 11 Heater power requirement as a function of cooling load for refrigerators A, "ES, and C 26 12 Effect of speed and hot cylinder and crankcase temperature on performance of refrigerator A (0.5 watt) when crankcase temperature = 45 C 27 13 Effect of speed and hot cylinder and crankcase temperature on performance of refrigerator A (0. 5 watt) when crankcase temperature = 20 C ' 28 14 Effect of speed and hot cylinder and crankcase temperature on performance of refrigerator A (0. 5 watt) when crankcase temperature = -5 C . 28 15 Cooldown history of refrigerator from shutdown 30 16 Cooldown history of refrigerator from standby mode 31 17 Cold end temperature variation with varying heater input voltage. 33 18 Diagrams for primary inertia forces 34 19 Outline and mounting diagram of LSIR refrigerator I. 36 20 Layout of LSIR refrigerator . 37 21 Cold end assembly of LSIR refrigerator 39 22 Hot end assembly of LSIR refrigerator 40 23 Motor configuration 43 IV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (Continued) Figure Page 24 Cutaway of cold cylinder/detector dewar interface 45 25 Detector dewar deflection ; 46 26 Configuration of typical EIFU 47 27 Block diagram of EIFU 49 28 Block diagram of second-stage temperature controller. 50 29 Failure logic . 52 30 Program schedule (it is assumed that three sets of GSE are available) 53 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 LSIR mission and refrigerator requirements 2 2 Characteristics of recommended LSIR cryogenic cooler 4 3 Comparison of design variables of refrigerators A, B, and C . 19 i 4 Dimension of Refrigerator 21 5 Volume Parameters of Refrigerators A, B, and C 22 6 . Parasitic losses and net refrigeration capacity of ' refrigerators A, B, and C 23 j 7 Heater power requirements of refrigerators A, B, and C 24 8 Possible standby modes . 30 9 Acceptance tests 56 10 Launch qualification and EMI tests 57 v SECTION I. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-is pursuing a program to detect and monitor the presence of trace constituents in the earth's atmosphere by using the Limb Scanning Infrared Radiometer (LSIR). The LSIR, which makes radiometric measurements of the earth's limb radiance profile from a space platform, contains a detector assembly that must be cooled to a temperature of 65 ± 2 K. Previously, open cycle coolers using liquid or solid cryogens were used for this cooling, but they were bulky and had limited life. Recent information indicates that a Vuilleumier (VM) closed cycle cryogenic refrigeration system could replace open cycle systems and would be li-ghter, smaller, and have a long reliable operational life. However, such things as the use of spacecraft power, waste heat rejection, and instrument and- control interfaces must be investigated and their effect on the overall mission established.' The purpose of this study program is to investigate the feasibility of cooling the NASA-type detector package with a VM cryogenic refrigerator and to develop a'preliminary conceptual design of a VM refrigerator that is com- patible with a flight-type LSIR instrument. The scope of the LSIR program consists of analytical and design work to establish the size, weight, power consumption, interface requirements, and other important characteristics of a cryogenic cooler that would meet the requirements of the LSIR as summarized in Table 1. The first effort of the study was to define the cryogenic cooling requirements under the conditions that NASA specified. Following this, a parametric performance analysis was performed to define the interrelationships_between refrigeration characteristics and. mission requirements. This effortJ^ed to the selection of an optimum refrigerator design for the LSIR mission. The third and last part of the program was to generate a conceptual design of the previously identified VM cryogenic cooler system, needed for power conversion, signal conditioning, control, fault detection, safety inter- locks, and cryogenic command interfaces. Table 2 summarizes the charac- teristics of the recommended cryogenic cooler for the LSIR. The table shows that the cooler provides the detector assembly with the necessary 0.3 watt of net refrigeration and requiresvjT?. 1 watts of total input power, which is well below the 90-watt source limit'. With 89 watt of input power, the cooler can provide 0. 5 watt of net refrigeration. The VM cooler design has a thermal interface between the crankcase heat exchanger and the LSIR thermal rejection system and a mechanical interface with the LSIR housing* This report describes the preliminary design of a cryogenic refrigeration system for a satellite based infrared detector system. The baseline system ! -tha t evolved -is "a n electricall" ~~""~~y powered VM~ refrigerato r ~o n~ whic~ ~ h the infrared~~ TABLE 1. LSIR MISSION AND REFRIGERATOR REQUIREMENTS Characteristic Requirements • Refrigeration temperature, K 65 ± 2 • Refrigeration temperature stability;°K ±0.5 • Refrigeration capacity, watts 0.2, 0. 3, 0.5 • Input power •• Voltage, vdc 24 and 10 (10 vdc reserved for controls) •• Amount, watts Heaters, £80 Drive motor £10 • v Cooldown time, hours •• From standby mode £0.5 • • From shutdown mode £2. 0 • Operational modes • • Operating Normal operation, capable of con- tinuous operation • • Standby Standby operation (i.e. , no per- formance requirements, minimum power input) for periods of from 12 to 500 hours • • Shutdown Capable of drawing "0" power for periods of up to 500 hours with a : restart ability of at least 100 times • Heat rejection • • Rate, watts £90 •• Method Direct radiation to space •• Temperature of crankcase Adjustable to within ±5°C within the range of 0° to 40°C TABLE 1. LSIR MISSION AND REFRIGERATOR REQUIREMENTS (Continued) Characteristics Requirements • Interface and mounting require- Per Figures A-l and A-Z of ments Appendix A • Environmental temperature -5 to 45 range, C • Operating life, hours >17,500 • Design pressure levels Z times maximum operating pres sure • Proof test pressure 1.5 times maximum, operating pressure • Detector assembly/coldfinger ZO (DG)* assembly alignment tolerance, • Axial alignment to focal plane, ±Z. 5 (DG) • Dynamic variation in detector ±O.Z5 (DG) position (axial and /or radial) um • Environmental design Per Table A-l of Appendix A requirements • EMI design requirements Per MIL-STD-461, Class I (.com- munication and electronic equipment) • Qualification test program Per Tables A-l and A-Z of Appendix A *DG = Design goal TABLE 2. CHARACTERISTICS OF RECOMMENDED LSIR CRYOGENIC COOLER Refrigerator Two-Stage, electrically powered, VM cycle Weight, Newtons (N) Refrigerator 35. 6 (8 Ibf) IFU 25. 7 (6 Ibf) Capacity, watts HxjT Refrigeration temperature, 65 ± 2 K Input power, watts Heater, 24 vdc 50. 1 Motor, 24 vdc 16 EIFU, 24 vdc 11 Total '77~.T~ Cooldown time, hr From standby mode 0.43 From shutdown mode 1.25 Heat rejection, watts 77. 1 (Heat rejection temperature = 45°C) detector assembly is mounted. The refrigerator and the electronic interface unit (EIFU) designs make maximum use of the technology developed on previous programs. This program also includes a formulation of plans, schedules, and cost 'estimates for a possible follow-on program consisting of final design, fabrica- tion, assembly, and test of three space-qualified refrigeration systems (and necessary GSE) based on the preliminary design described in this document. •With a mid 1977 start date, the follow-on