Argon-oxygen mixtures for Joule-Thomson cryocooling at elevated altitude

作者：Maytal Ben Zion^*

来源：International Journal of Refrigeration, 2015, 60: 54-61.

DOI：10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2015.07.007

• Joule-Thomson cryocooler
• Boiling
• Sublimation
• Argon
• Oxygen
• High altitude

At high altitude where the ambient pressure is low, argon as a coolant of a Joule-Thomson cryocooler solidifies and is not able to preserve the temperature of a cooled object with the same success as by liquefied and boiling argon. Instead of other strategies of thermal storage techniques, it is proposed to add oxygen to argon so to suppress the triple point of the mixture below that of argon. An experiment with 20% oxygen mixture demonstrated that indeed a cryocooler for argon operates well with the mixture while enabling solid free higher altitude run. An analysis of pure oxygen and its mixtures with argon shows that the performance of the mixed coolant is reasonably close to that of pure argon.

• 出版日期2015-12