KR200309419Y1 - Thermoelectric-pulse tube refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a thermoelectric-pulsator tube cooling device. It combines the existing thermoelectric cooler and pulsating tube cooling machine and maintains the advantages of environmental friendliness of the two cooling devices and cryogenic cooling of the pulsating tube cooling device, and has a low cooling efficiency compared to the conventional compression type cooling machine. It greatly facilitates the change of cooling scale while drastically improving the disadvantages of cooling equipment and pulsating tube cooling equipment. The basic structure is the compressor which compresses and expands the gas based on the external structure of the pulsating tube cooling machine, the regenerator in which the effects of thermoelectric cooling and pulsating tube cooling are fused, a low temperature heat exchanger and a high temperature heat exchanger which absorb and release heat of the regenerator. It consists of a pulsating tube that compresses and expands the inert gas inside. The introduction of thermoelectric cooling to the pulsation tube cooling is performed through a regenerator. The structure of the regenerator is made in a porous form using a thermoelectric module, and the high and low temperature heat exchangers are shared for thermoelectric cooling and pulsating tube cooling. Therefore, thermoelectric and pulsating tube cooling machine is synergistic with thermoelectric cooling and pulsating tube cooling, and it improves the performance of cooling efficiency and at the same time, it is easy to control the change of cooling scale from small to large scale and the change of cooling temperature from cryogenic to low temperature. Can be.

Description

Thermoelectric-pulse tube refrigerator

Conventional compressed cooling apparatuses use refrigerants such as CFCs (chlorinated fluorocarbons) and the like, and these refrigerants have been cited as the main culprit of various environmental pollutions including ozone decay and global warming. Therefore, as part of the development of a new technology that can solve the refrigerant problem of the compression type cooling device, a thermoelectric cooling device using a thermoelectric module was introduced as an environmentally friendly cooling device. On the other hand, there is a pulsating tube cooling device using an inert gas and a pulsating tube as an efficient environment-friendly cooling device for cryogenic cooling. When the thermoelectric cooling device and the pulsating tube cooling device are applied to low temperature refrigeration and freezing, they are inferior in technology in comparison with the conventional compression type cooling device in spite of many advantages including environmental friendliness. Therefore, the conventional low temperature cooling device is a compression type cooling device using a refrigerant such as CFC that causes environmental problems, a thermoelectric cooling device using a thermoelectric module without using a conventional refrigerant, an inert gas and a pulsating tube without using a conventional refrigerant. The pulse wave tube cooling apparatus etc. which are used are mentioned. The principles and advantages and disadvantages of these compressed, thermoelectric and pulsating tube chillers are briefly described.

A compressor refrigerator includes a compressor (11), a condenser (12), an expander (13), an evaporator (14), and an alternating current (15) power source as shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. ) And its connecting tube. In the compressor (11), the cooling gas such as CFC exits through the discharge pipe and enters the condenser (12). When the cooling gas enters the condenser, the temperature and pressure of the cooling gas are greatly increased by a restrictor at the opposite end of the condenser. do. The condenser 12 cools the hot cooling gas coolly, and there is a heat dissipation process in which heat is emitted from the surface of the condenser 12. If the cooling gas fails to receive heat, it liquefies and becomes a liquid, which exits the condenser and enters the capillary expander 13. The liquid coolant exits the expander 13 again and enters the tube of the large evaporator 14, and as the pressure drops due to the rapidly increased tube size, vaporization occurs to change the liquid into a mixture of liquid and gas. The mixture of liquid and gas is gradually reduced to a gaseous state through an endothermic process of absorbing heat while passing through the evaporator 14. The gaseous cooling gas exits the evaporator and returns to the compressor 11 through the suction pipe to complete a cycle of cooling.

The advantage of the compression type chiller is its high cooling efficiency. Disadvantages are that existing refrigerants such as CFCs cause environmental pollution and ozone depletion, so development of environmentally friendly refrigerants is required. In addition, the maintenance cost of the components, including the compressor (11) is high, the noise and vibration is large, the temperature is difficult to control, the consumption of power to use is a disadvantage.

In the thermoelectric refrigerator, as shown in FIG. 2, a thermoelectric module 21 is the core, and n-type and p-type thermoelectric semiconductors are formed between two ceramic insulator plates 26 and copper conductor plates 23. (thermoelectric semiconductor) 22 is used in the form of a module that is electrically connected in series and thermally in parallel. When a current flows from the DC power source 27 to the thermoelectric module 21, a temperature difference occurs on both sides of the module due to the thermoelectric effect, which is called a Peltier effect. When direct current is applied to n-type (Bi) and p-type (Bi ₂ Te ₃ ) (22) thermoelectrics, electrons absorbing thermal energy from the surroundings are moved into the thermoelectric semiconductors at the contacts of the negatively charged metal and semiconductor. Endotherm occurs, and the positively charged contact generates heat by the release of the thermal energy of electrons. In general, a thermoelectric module refers to a solid heat pump using a cooling effect exhibited by the Peltier effect. The high temperature heat and the low temperature heat generated on both sides of the thermoelectric module are transferred to the high temperature heat exchanger 24 and the low temperature heat exchanger 25, respectively, and the low temperature heat exchanger 25 circulates the cooling water to obtain a cooling effect.

The advantages of thermoelectric chillers are that they are environmentally friendly because they do not use refrigerants as compared to compressed chillers, and as there is no compressor (11), the maintenance cost of each part is small, no lubricating oil, noise and vibration are small, and fine temperature control. It is easy and the power consumption for operation is small. A disadvantage of thermoelectric coolers is their relatively low cooling efficiency compared to compression type coolers. And another feature of thermoelectric chillers is that the cooling system is compact and the cooling scale is more useful for small scale cooling.

In general, the basic configuration of a pulse tube refrigerator used for cryogenic cooling is a compressor 31, a regenerator 32, a pulsating tube 33, and a high temperature heat exchanger 34 as shown in FIG. ) And a low temperature heat exchanger (35). The basic principle of the pulsating tube cooling machine drives the piston of the compressor 31 in the AC power source 36 to cause pulsation of pressure in the gas or fluid inside the pulsating tube 33. At this time, the frequency of the piston driven by the compressor 31 and the length and radius of the pulsating tube have a close relationship. Insulation of the inert gas inside the pulsating tube is accompanied by temperature changes due to isothermal compression and expansion. The heat retained by the gas during the temperature change process is transferred to the regenerator 32, which is a porous medium existing inside the pulsation tube 33. The regenerator of the pulsating tube cooling machine shown in FIG. 3 is composed of a porous medium of spherical, slit, cylindrical, or square column shape in which the inert gas in the pulsating tube is freely moved. In addition, the regenerator is composed of a low thermal conductivity medium to have a temperature gradient in the longitudinal direction of the regenerator. The pulsating tube serves to transfer heat to both the high temperature heat exchanger 34 and the low temperature heat exchanger 35 through absorption and release of heat from the gas. The heat of the high temperature heat exchanger 34 thus delivered is cooled by using the surrounding cooling water or the cooling fan, and the low temperature heat exchanger 35 circulates the cooling water such as water or glycol to be discharged to the outside of the pulsating tube 33. Cooling effect is obtained.

Pulsating tube cooling devices, like thermoelectric cooling devices, are environmentally friendly because they do not use refrigerants as compared to compression cooling devices and can be used for cryogenic cooling. Disadvantages of the pulsating tube cooling device is that the maintenance cost of components including the compressor 31 is high, the noise and vibration are large, temperature control is difficult, and power consumption is high. In addition, the cooling efficiency is relatively low compared to the compression type cooling device. On the other hand, another feature of the pulsating tube cooling device is that the size of the cooling system depends on the driving frequency of the compressor 31, and the cooling scale is more useful for large-scale cooling than the thermoelectric cooling device at low frequency driving.

The thermoelectric cooling device and the pulsating tube cooling device are inferior in current technology compared to the conventional compression cooling device in spite of many advantages including environmental friendliness in the case of applying the cold cooling device at low temperature. Therefore, we have developed a thermoelectric-pulsator tube cooling device that combines a thermoelectric cooling device and a pulsating tube cooling device, while maintaining the advantages of the two cooling devices. Easily controlling the change in scale is a technical problem to be achieved by the present invention. Thermoelectric-Pulsation Tube Cooling Device combines thermoelectric cooling device and pulsating tube cooling device, and can be used for cryogenic cooling while maintaining the environmental friendliness of thermoelectric cooling device and pulsating tube cooling device. In addition, through the combination of the two cooling devices to improve the efficiency of the low cooling efficiency, which is a disadvantage compared to the compression cooling device in each cooling device, and to facilitate the control of the change in the cooling scale from small to large cooling.

1 is a schematic view of a compression cooling machine

2 is a schematic diagram of a thermoelectric cooler

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the pulsating tube cooling machine

4 is a schematic diagram (a) and a regenerator cross section (b) of a thermoelectric-pulsator tube cooling machine;

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

11: Compressor 12: Condenser 13: Expander 14: Evaporator 15: AC Power

21: thermoelectric element 22: p-type and n-type semiconductor 23: conductor 24: high temperature heat exchanger 25: low temperature heat exchanger 26: insulator 27: DC power

31 compressor 32 regenerator 33 pulsation tube 34 high temperature heat exchanger 35 low temperature heat exchanger 36 AC power

41 Compressor 42 Thermoelectric-Pulsation Tube Regenerator 43 Pulsating Tube 44 High Temperature Heat Exchanger 45 Low Temperature Heat Exchanger 46 AC Power 47 DC Power 48 AC / DC Converter

51: thermoelectric module 52: p-type and n-type semiconductor 53: stack

Thermoelectric-pulse tube refrigerators are a combination of thermoelectric and pulsating tube refrigerators. As shown in FIG. 4, the basic configuration of the thermoelectric-pulsating tube cooling machine maintains the basic configuration of the pulsating tube cooling machine of FIG. 3 without changing the compressor 41, regenerator 42, and pulse tube. 43, the high temperature heat exchanger 44, the low temperature heat exchanger 45, etc. are comprised. The outer configuration of the thermoelectric-pulsation tube cooling machine of FIG. 4 is provided with a compressor 41 at one end of the pulsation tube 43 as in the pulsation tube cooling machine of FIG. The size of the cooling system is determined by the relationship between the drive frequency of the compressor 41 and the pulsation tube 43. Inside the pulsating tube there is a thermoelectric-pulsating tube regenerator 42, a porous medium, one side of which is connected a high temperature heat exchanger 44 and the other side a low temperature heat exchanger 45. In the thermoelectric-pulsation tube cooling apparatus, the position of the high temperature heat exchanger 44 is arranged differently from the position of the high temperature heat exchanger 34 in the conventional pulse tube cooling apparatus. Here, as shown in FIG. 4, the thermoelectric module 51 of the thermoelectric cooler is used to manufacture the thermoelectric-pulsator tube regenerator 42, and many capillaries are positioned in the thermoelectric module so as to freely move inert gas such as helium. The high temperature heat exchanger 44 and the low temperature heat exchanger 45 are designed to be shared between the thermoelectric cooler and the pulsating tube cooler. Therefore, the thermoelectric-pulsator tube cooling machine serves to complement each other in order to increase the relatively low cooling efficiency which is a disadvantage of each cooling device, and at the same time, it is easy to control the change of the cooling scale from small cooling to large cooling.

The thermoelectric-pulsable tube cooling machine thus mixes and fuses the thermoelectric cooling apparatus to the external configuration of the pulsed tube cooling apparatus. Therefore, a key component of the thermoelectric-pulsator tube cooler starts with the thermoelectric-pulsator tube regenerator 42 of FIG. 4 and uses a thermoelectric module to fabricate a porous regenerator. A plurality of capillary holes are formed in the thermoelectric module 51 in which the p-type and n-type semiconductors 52 are alternately positioned. The shape of the pore is spherical, cylindrical, rectangular, etc. can be produced in various ways depending on the cooling performance and the ease of manufacture of the material. The pores are located between the p-type and n-type semiconductors 52, and there are many pores in the conductors 23 connecting the semiconductors, and similarly many pores are formed in the insulator 26, such as ceramics, which are continuously joined to the conductors. It is drilled coaxially like the dotted line of 4. Therefore, in the pulsation tube 43 having an inert gas such as helium gas, the gas movement inside is made possible through the thermoelectric-pulsation tube regenerator 42. In addition, since thermoelectric modules generally have strong properties against pressure, they can be sufficiently installed even at high pressures of inert gas in a pulsating tube. In particular, by appropriately adjusting the thickness in the insulator 26 in the pulsating tube longitudinal direction, the cooling using the pressure of the gas is optimized. A key technique in the fabrication of the thermoelectric-pulsator tube regenerator 42 is to optimally adjust the size of the capillary tube in the regenerator so that both ends of the regenerator are thermally insulated and free of movement of the inert gas at both ends. As a result, the thermoelectric-pulsator tube regenerator 42 has a severe temperature gradient by thermoelectric cooling and pulsation tube cooling. Increasing the pressure of the inert gas present in the pulsating tube increases the temperature difference across the regenerator, and a more severe temperature gradient can be obtained. As described above, the thermoelectric-pulsator tube regenerator is capable of generating low temperature and high temperature by two methods, a thermoelectric cooling method and a pulse tube cooling method, and have mutual synergy effect. Therefore, the thermoelectric-pulsation tube refrigerating machine using the thermoelectric-pulsation tube regenerator 42 can improve the cooling efficiency compared to each of the pulsating tube cooling apparatus or the thermoelectric cooling apparatus, and the change of the cooling scale depends on the appropriate combination of the two cooling apparatuses. It can be adjusted from small to large. In addition, although not the above-described method, a similar compromise method using a series and parallel connection of a porous regenerator for pulsating tube cooling and a thermoelectric module for thermoelectric cooling may be used according to circumstances.

In the thermoelectric-pulsation tube cooling machine, the high temperature heat exchanger 44 and the low temperature heat exchanger 45 of FIG. 4 are arranged on both sides of the regenerator 42 so as to be shared by the pulsation tube cooling machine and the thermoelectric cooling machine. A slight change is common in copper tube chillers. The high temperature heat exchanger 44 is in contact with a liquid such as water in the case of water-cooled, and acts to cool the high temperature heat exchanger by operating the fan in the case of air-cooled. The low temperature heat exchanger (45) is circulated in the liquid to maintain a low temperature state is used for the purpose of cooling. Therefore, through the shared high and low temperature heat exchanger to reduce the size and cost of the cooling device to improve the cooling efficiency.

In the thermoelectric-pulsation tube cooling apparatus, as shown in FIG. 4, an AC power source 46 is required to drive a compressor for a pulsation tube cooling machine, and the DC power source 47 using the AC / DC converter 48 is a thermoelectric for a thermoelectric cooling machine. This is the power required to drive the module. Supply of separate AC and DC power sources is also possible for this application. The size of the thermoelectric-pulsation tube cooling system is largely determined by the relationship between the drive frequency of the compressor 41 connected to the AC power source 46 and the pulsation tube 43. In addition, the proper combination of AC power and DC power can be combined with pulse tube cooling equipment useful for large-scale cooling and thermoelectric cooling equipment useful for small-scale cooling, and it is possible to simultaneously increase cooling efficiency and adjust cooling scale. .

Thermoelectric-pulsable tube chillers maintain the advantages of pulsed tube and thermoelectric chillers. Therefore, the advantage of the thermoelectric-pulsation tube cooling device is that it does not use a refrigerant, it is environmentally friendly to cryogenic cooling, and fine temperature control is easy. And thermoelectric-pulsator tube cooling machine converts the disadvantages of the pulse tube and the thermoelectric cooling machine to an advantage. Therefore, the thermoelectric-pulsator tube cooling device can improve the low cooling efficiency, which is a disadvantage of the two cooling devices, as much as the compression cooling device. In thermoelectric-pulsator tube chillers, the size of the cooling system is generally adjustable according to the frequency of the compressor used. In addition, in thermoelectric-pulsable tube chillers, the scale of cooling can be adjusted from small to large by combining the utility of large-scale cooling of the pulsating tube cooling apparatus and small-scale cooling of the thermoelectric cooling apparatus. However, thermoelectric-pulsator tube cooling apparatus has a disadvantage in that the maintenance cost of components including the compressor 41 is high, the noise and vibration are large, and the power consumption is large, similarly to the compression cooling apparatus. It is also important to note that AC and DC power supply are operated at the same time.

Thermoelectric-pulsation tube cooling can be applied to various refrigeration and refrigeration equipment. For example, it can be used in cryogenic refrigerators for superconducting filters, infrared sensors and low temperature sensors, and cryogenic refrigeration systems for superconducting power storage devices. And constant temperature control of various home appliances such as cold / hot water purifier, Kim Chang-dok, automotive cold / hot clothes, wet towel maker, air conditioner, computer CPU chip cooler, optical diode laser diode modulator, ink jet printer head The thermoelectric-pulsation tube cooling device may be applied to the electronic component field, the mobile communication unmanned base station, the electronic component cabinet for communication, and the like. In addition, it can be used in various applications such as semiconductor manufacturing coolers, scientific measuring equipment, medical devices, vacuum devices, etc., and can be used for cooling facilities such as large refrigerators, freezers, and large residential buildings.

The heat transferred from the thermoelectric-pulsator tube cooling machine to the high temperature heat exchanger is cooled by water or air cooling, but the heat may be directly used without cooling. Therefore, the thermoelectric-pulsation tube cold / hot machine which uses the heat of a high temperature heat exchanger or uses the heat and cold of a high and low temperature heat exchanger is a simple application of a thermoelectric-pulsation tube cooling apparatus. Likewise, thermoelectric-pulsator tube chillers, which use low temperature as a core, can be immediately applied to thermoelectric-pulsator tube engines because the heat can be converted into work and used in a heat engine.

Thermoelectric-pulsable tube cooling devices are environmentally friendly because they use safe gases or fluids without using refrigerants that cause ozone decay and global warming. It is easy to cool down to cryogenic temperature and it is easy to control minute temperature. In thermoelectric-pulsator tube cooling system, the size of the cooling system can be adjusted according to the driving frequency of the compressor which is generally used. Cooling from small to large by combining the utility of large-sized cooling of the pulsating tube cooling equipment and small-sized cooling of the thermoelectric cooling equipment. Can be scaled

Expected effects can greatly contribute to the development of technology in the field of thermoelectric-pulsation tubes as a new discipline that combines electromagnetics, mechanical engineering and thermodynamics. In the situation where domestic and foreign thermoelectric technology developers and pulse tube technology developers are only familiar with their respective fields, there is a possibility of growth as a future specialized technology field as an interdisciplinary complex technology field. Industrially, there is an infinite potential to replace the conventional compressed cooling machine with an environmentally friendly thermoelectric-pulsable tube cooling machine regardless of the cooling scale. Thermoelectric-pulsable tube chillers can vary in size from small to large scales and can vary from cryogenic to temperature, which has a significant impact on other industries. Therefore, the commercialization of cooling equipment using thermoelectric-pulsation tubes can be expected to breakthrough in the refrigeration industry. In addition, the development of thermoelectric-pulsated tube cooling equipment can be directly applied to the development of a thermoelectric-pulsated tube engine or a thermoelectric-pulsed tube generator, which has a rough ripple effect in the entire industry.

Claims (2)

It consists of a low temperature heat exchanger, a high temperature heat exchanger, a compressor, and a pulsation tube which are located at both ends of a porous regenerator made of many capillaries in a thermoelectric module inside a pulsating tube, and a porous regenerator including a thermoelectric module. By combining pulsating tube cooling to make synergistic effect of two cooling effects, it maintains advantages such as environmental friendliness of thermoelectric and pulsating tube cooling equipment, and facilitates diversification of cooling scale, and compares with each cooling equipment. Thermoelectric-Pulsation Tube Cooling Machine with improved cooling efficiency. Thermoelectric-Pulsation Tube Cooling Machine that uses both heat and cold at the same time.