Development of a proof of concept low temperature He-4 Superfluid Magnetic Pump

摘要

We describe the development and experimental results of a proof of concept Superfluid Magnetic Pump in this work. This novel low temperature, no moving part pump can replace the existing bellows-piston driven He-4 or He-3-He-4 mixture compressor/circulators used in various sub Kelvin refrigeration systems such as dilution, Superfluid pulse tube, Stirling, or active magnetic regenerative refrigerators. Due to the superior thermal transport properties of sub -Lambda He-4 this pump can also be used as a simple circulator to distribute cooling over large surface areas. Our pump was experimentally shown to produce a maximum flow rate of 440 mg/s (averaged over cycle), 665 mg/s (peak) and produced a maximum pressure difference of 2323 Pa using only the more common isotope of helium, He-4. This pump worked in an "ideal" thermodynamic state: The experimental results matched with the theoretical values predicted by a computer model. Pump curves were developed to map the performance of this pump. This successful demonstration will enable this novel pump to be implemented in suitable sub Kelvin refrigeration systems.(C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.