Performance evaluation of sintered regenerator for stirling cryocooler

The Stirling type Cryogenerator for Liquid Nitrogen facility consists of regenerative type of heat exchanger (Regenerator). This regenerator is made up of Stainless-Steel wire mesh stacks sintered at high temperature. The regenerative heat exchangers are prone to impurity accumulation in the porous region due to wear and tear of the sealing and guide rings from the neighbouring components over a period of operation. This results in decrease in capacity of liquefaction. In view of this, the regenerator needs be cleaned at regular intervals. The impurities are difficult to be removed completely from the porous region as tried in our laboratory. As a result, the regenerator needs to be replaced once it gets saturated with impurities. At present, such regenerator needs to be imported at a substantial cost in foreign exchange. The aim of this work is to manufacture such a sintered regenerative heat exchanger in our laboratory and test its performance. The present work involves fabrication and sintering of SS wire mesh, assembling it in the liquid nitrogen Cryogenerator and monitor liquefaction performance. (author)