Miniature Pulse Tube Cooler

A high capacity miniature pulse tube cooler for space that is scaled from the High Efficiency Cryocooler (HEC) is being developed. The low mass (1.5 kg) integral pulse tube cryocooler can provide large cooling power over a wide temperature range (e.g., 5 W at 95 K). The cooler is designed to be compatible with the existing HEC flight electronics. A small back‐to‐back flexure compressor drives a pulse tube cold head which is integrated with the compressor. The cooler has been tested with both linear and coaxial cold heads. A description of the cooler and its performance in both linear and coaxial cold head versions is presented.