Vibration analysis of cryocoolers Original Research Article

The vibrations of Gifford-McMahon (GM) and pulse-tube (PT) cryocoolers were measured and analyzed. The vibrations of the cold-stage and cold-head were measured separately to investigate their vibration mechanisms. The measurements were performed while maintaining the thermal conditions of the cryocoolers at a steady state. We found that the vibration of the cold-head for the 4 K PT cryocooler was two orders of magnitude smaller than that of the 4 K GM cryocooler. On the other hand, the vibration of the cold-stages for both cryocoolers was of the same order of magnitude. From a spectral analysis of the vibrations and a simulation, we concluded that the vibration of the cold-stage is caused by an elastic deformation of the pulse tubes (or cylinders) due to the pressure oscillation of the working gas.