Numerical simulation of a step-piston type series two-stage pulse tube refrigerator Original Research Article

A two-stage pulse tube refrigerator has a great advantage in that there are no moving parts at low temperatures. The problem is low theoretical efficiency. In an ordinary two-stage pulse tube refrigerator, the expansion work of the first stage pulse tube is rather large, but is changed to heat. The theoretical efficiency is lower than that of a Stirling refrigerator. A series two-stage pulse tube refrigerator was introduced for solving this problem. The hot end of the regenerator of the second stage is connected to the hot end of the first stage pulse tube. The expansion work in the first stage pulse tube is part of the input work of the second stage, therefore the efficiency is increased. In a simulation result for a step-piston type two-stage series pulse tube refrigerator, the efficiency is increased by 13.8%.