Abstract
Numerical simulation has been performed to analyze the heat and fluid flow in pulse tubes and to clarify the working principle of refrigeration in basic pulse-tube refrigerators. Transient axisymmetric two-dimensional equations of continuity, momentum and energy were solved utilizing the TVD method. A physical model combining the pulse tube with the wall and regenerator is used for numerical simulation. The pulse tube for this study is a stainless-steel pipe of 150mm in length, 5mm in inner diameter and 1mm in thickness, and contains a heat exchanger of 30mm in length. The dimensions of the regenerator are 60mm in length and 12.5mm in inner diameter. Woven 200 mesh wire screens of copper are used as the regenerator material. Air is selected as the working gas. Heat exchange between the pulse-tube wall and the working gas in the pulse tube is assumed to be convective heat transfer. In this paper, we analyze the transient behaviors of pressure and gas temperature, traces and temperature changes of the gas elements in the pulse tube and heat transfer between the working gas and tube wall.
