• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.41-46
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• 2015

Recently, the development of the HTS power cable is actively promoted. As the length of HTS power cable increases, there have been many efforts to develop large capacity cryocooler. Among the various cryocooler, the Brayton refrigerator is the most competitive for HTS power cable. The Brayton refrigerator is composed of recuperative heat exchangers, a compressor, and a cryogenic turbo expander. In these components, the cryogenic turbo expander is a part to decrease the temperature and it is the most significant component that is closely related with overall system efficiency. It rotates with high speed using a high-pressure helium or neon gas at cryogenic temperature. This paper describes the design of a 10 kW class Brayton refrigeration cycle and the cryogenic turbo expander. Flow and structural analysis are performed for the rotating impeller and nozzle to verify the efficiency and the design performance.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.174-179
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• 2024

In this work, we introduce a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor(CMOS)-based integrated circuit(IC) measurement set-up for quantum computer control and read-out using a cryogenic refrigerator. CMOS circuits have to operate at extremely low temperatures of 3 to 5 K for qubit stability and noise reduction. The existing cryogenic measurement system is liquid helium quenching, which is expensive due to the long-term use of expendable resources. Therefore, we describe a cryogenic measurement system based on a closed cycle refrigerator (CCR) that is cost-free even when using helium gas for long periods of time. The refrigerator capable of reaching 4.7 K was built using a Gifford-Mcmahon(G-M) type cryocooler. This is expected to be a cryogenic refrigerator set-up with excellent price competitiveness.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.71-77
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• 2022

Sub-Kelvin cooling has been generally demanded for the fields of low temperature physics, such as physical property measurements, astronomical detection, and quantum computing. The refrigeration system with a small size can be appropriately introduced when the measurement system does not require a high cooling capacity at sub-Kelvin temperature. The dilution refrigerator which is a common method to reach sub-Kelvin, however, must possess a large ³He circulation equipment at room temperature. As alternatives, a sorption refrigerator and a magnetic refrigerator can be adopted for sub-Kelvin cooling. This paper describes those coolers which have been developed by various research groups. Furthermore, a cold-cycle dilution refrigerator of which the size of the ³He circulation system is minimized, is also introduced. Subsequently, a new concept of dilution refrigerator is proposed by our group. The suggested cooler can achieve sub-Kelvin temperature with a small size since it does not require any recuperator and turbo-molecular vacuum pump. Its architecture allows the compact configuration to reach sub-Kelvin temperature by integrating the sorption pump and the magnetic refrigerators. Therefore, it may be suitably utilized in the low temperature experiments requiring low cooling capacity.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.1-6
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• 2022

This paper reviews the literature that has been published since 1980s related to cryogenic refrigeration systems for quantum computing. The reason why such a temperature level of 10-20 mK is necessary for quantum computing is that the superconducting qubit is sensitive to even very small thermal disturbances. The entanglement of the qubits may not be sustained due to thermal fluctuations and mechanical vibrations beyond their thresholds. This phenomenon is referred to as decoherence, and it causes an computation error in operation. For the stable operation of the quantum computer, a low-vibration cryogenic refrigeration system is imperative as an enabling technology. Conventional dilution refrigerators (DR), so called 'wet' DR, are precooled by liquid helium, but a more convenient and economical precooling method can be achieved by using a mechanical refrigerator instead of liquid cryogen. These 'dry' DRs typically equip pulse-tube refrigerators (PTR) for precooling the DRs around 4 K because of its particular advantage of low vibration characteristic. In this review paper, we have focused on the development status of 4 K PTRs and further potential development issues will be also discussed. A quiet 4 K refrigerator not only serves as an indispensable precooler of DR but also immediately enhances the characteristics of low noise amplifiers (LNA) or other cryo-electronics of various type quantum computers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.141-148
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• 2015

The cryogenic cooling system should maintain the HTS power cable below 77 K. As the length of HTS power cables has increased, there have been many efforts to develop large capacity cryocoolers. Brayton, Joule-Thomson, and Claude refrigerators were considered for the large capacity cryocooler. Among the various cryocoolers, the Brayton refrigerator is the most competitive in terms of the HTS power cable. At present, it is thought that a 10-kW class refrigerator will be able to be used as a unit cooling system for the commercialization of HTS power cables in the near future. The Brayton refrigerator is composed of recuperative heat exchangers, a compressor, and a cryogenic turbo expander. Among the various components, the cryogenic turbo expander is the part that decreases the temperature, and it is the most significant component that is closely related with overall system efficiency. It rotates at high speed using high-pressure helium or neon gas at cryogenic temperatures. This paper describes the design of a 300-W class Brayton refrigeration cycle and the cryogenic turbo expander as a downscale model for the practical 10-kW class cycle. Flow and structural analyses are performed on the rotating impeller and nozzle to verify the efficiency and the design performance.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.534-540
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• 2022

Liquid hydrogen has the best storage capacity per unit mass and is economical among storage methods for using hydrogen as fuel. As the demand for hydrogen increases, the need to develop a storage and supply system of liquid hydrogen is emphasizing. In order to liquefy hydrogen, it is necessary to pre-cool it to a maximum inversion temperature of -253℃. The Gifford-McMahon (GM) refrigerator is the most reliable and commercialized refrigerator among small-capacity cryogenic refrigerators, which can extract high-efficiency hydrogen through liquefied hydrogen production and boil of gas re-liquefaction. Therefore, in this study, the optimal conditions for liquefying gas hydrogen were sought using the GM cryocooler. The process was simulated by PRO/II under various cooling capacities of the GM refrigerator. In addition, the flow rate of hydrogen was calculated by comparing with specific refrigerator capacity depending on the pressure and flow rate of a refrigerant medium, helium. Simulations were performed to investigate the optimal values of the liquefaction flow rate and compression pressure, which aim for the peak refrigeration effect. Based on this, a liquefaction system can be selected in consideration of the cycle configuration and the performance of the refrigerator.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.299-305
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• 2016

The High Temperature Superconducting power cables (HTS power cables) become increasingly longer to commercialize the HTS power cable system. Accordingly, demands on refrigerators of large cooling capacity per a unit system have been increased. In Korea, it is currently imported from abroad with the high price due to insufficient domestic technologies. In order to commercialize the HTS power cables, it is necessary to develop the refrigerators with large cooling capacity. The Brayton refrigerators are composed of recuperative heat exchangers, compressors and cryogenic turbo expanders. The most directly considering the efficiency of the Brayton refrigerator, it depends on performance of the cryogenic turbo expander. Rotating at high speed in cryogenic temperature, the cryogenic turbo expanders lower temperature by expanding high pressure of a helium or neon gas. In this paper, the reverse Brayton cycle is designed and the cryogenic turbo expander is designed in accordance with the thermodynamic cycle.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 2017

Recently, Research and development activity of HTS (High Temperature Superconducting) power application is very progressive worldwide. Especially, HTS cable system and HTSFCL (HTS Fault current limiter) system are proceeding to practical stages. In such system and equipment, cryogenic cooling system, which makes HTS equipment cooled lower than critical temperature, is one of crucial components. In this article, cryogenic cooling system for HTS application, mainly cable, is reviewed. Cryogenic cooling system can be categorized into conduction cooling system and immersion cooling system. In practical HTS power application area, immersion cooling system with sub-cooled liquid nitrogen is preferred. The immersion cooling system is besides grouped into open cycle system and closed cycle system. Turbo-Brayton refrigerator is a key component for closed cycle system. Those two cooling systems are focused in this article. And, each design and component of the cooling system is explained.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.129-135
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• 2016

There have been many types of development and commercialization efforts for superconducting power applications with the continuous development of High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) conductors. In particular, HTS power cables are going to be commercialized in real power grids. A cryogenic refrigeration system should be used to keep it below 77 K, and its required cooling capacity continuously increases as the unit length of the HTS power cable increases. Among the many kinds of cryogenic refrigerator, a reverse Brayton refrigerator that uses turbo expanders is a promising refrigerator due to its efficiency and reliability. Among the various components in refrigerators, the cryogenic turbo-expander is the most important part for increasing efficiency and assuring reliability. The design of a 300 W class turbo-expander is described in this paper prior to the development of a 10 kW class turbo expander, which is the required capability for the commercialization of a HTS power cable. The impeller shape and rotation speed are determined based on the cycle analysis. The Eigen frequency and harmonic analysis are conducted with gas bearings at cryogenic temperatures to determine the operational stability.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Applied Superconductivity and Cryogenics Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.316-319
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• 2003

Cryogenic refrigerator system is necessary for cooling the superconducting rotor. Among the various cryogenic refrigerator systems, on-board hybrid pulse tube cryocooler is designed for cooling the superconducting rotor. Hybrid pulse tube cryocooler is composed of pulse tube cryocooler and Stirling cryocooler. This Stirling cryocooler precools the middle point of regenerator to obtain lower temperature at cold part of pulse tube cryocooler. In this paper, only Stirling cryocooler is on-boarded then rotated by motor for various rotating speeds and heat loads at cold part of Stilting cryocooler. Through this experiment the feasibility of the on-board cryocooler is investigated.