Development of a Stirling cryocooler with linear guidway supports

摘要

The MTTF of a rotary Stirling cryocooler is usually 2500 hours and hardly achieve longer beyond that due to the wear characters of the piston ring materials. In this paper, a rotary cryocooler is introduced which utilizes inexpensive linear guidways to support the moving parts of the cooler. This transfers the sliding wears between the piston and cylinder or between the displacer and cold cylinder to rolling friction on the linear guidways, and the piston and displacer get less wear. Thus, the cooler can operate with higher reliability and longer lifetime.