Cryogenic cooling apparatus
US4373357A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 8, 1981 |
| Grant date | Feb 15, 1983 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 8, 2001 |
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 affording two paths, through one of which, in use, refrigerant gas from a supply under pressure is supplied to a Joule-Thompson expansion nozzle to liquify a portion of the gas in a container where the low pressure gas returns through the other path, and a valve member co-operating with the nozzle to vary its effective area for automatically controlling the flow of the refrigerant. The valve member is actuated via an elongate operating member by a movable wall of a bellows situated within or beyond the heat exchanger and exposed on one side to the pressure of a sensing vapor, which, in operation, is in equilibrium with liquid. The operating member is in the form of a tube whose interior communicates with the space containing the sensing vapor, and extending down to the region of the nozzle so that the heat extracted from the sensing vapor in the operating member is a function of the quantity of liquid refrigerant in contact with the operating member.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.