Cryogenic cooling apparatus
US4177650A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 13, 1978 |
| Grant date | Dec 11, 1979 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 13, 1998 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC F)Mechanical Engineering; Lighting; Heating
- CPC primaryF25J2290/42
- WIPO fieldChemical engineering
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
Cryogenic cooling apparatus of the type including a generally tubular heat exchanger having a warm end and a cold end and affording two paths through one of which refrigerant gas flows from a supply under pressure to an expansion nozzle for producing cooling by means of the Joule Thomson effect in a liquefying chamber whence the low pressure gas returns through the other path to cool the incoming refrigerant, and a valve member cooperating with the nozzle to vary its effective area for automatically controlling the flow of refrigerant is characterized in that the valve is actuated by the expansion of an expander caused by the temperature of the expander itself, the expander being of elongate form and having an anchored end supported by the cold end of the heat exchanger but thermally insulated from it by a path of low thermal conductivity and extending away from the warm end of the heat exchanger to a free end which actuates the valve the expander having a warm end portion of high thermal conductivity extending from its anchored end to a region between the nozzle and the heat exchanger, which region is not in the direct line of spray from the nozzle, and a cold end portion of lower…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.