Numerical analysis of different valve effects on the cooling performance of a two-stage GM type pulse tube cryocooler

The cooling performance of GM type pulse tube cryocoolers (PTCs) is strongly affected by the valve setting for phase shifting. In this research, the effects of different valve openings on the no-load temperatures in a two-stage GM PTC have been investigated by numerical simulation. Results show that the no-load temperature at the 1st stage mainly depends on the openings of 1st stage orifice valve, and both 1st and 2nd stage double-inlet valves. While the no-load temperature at the 2nd stage below 10 K sensitively depends on the openings of both 1st and 2nd stage orifice valves, and 2nd stage double-inlet valves. There exist several local minimum no-load temperatures at the 2nd stage under different valve openings below 7 K. The best valve setting corresponds to minimizing the cold end phase angle, making the cold end acoustic power compensate the real gas enthalpy flow with maximum degree.