This report describes the development and the reliability study of the Kirk cycle miniature refrigerator manufactured for trial. Firstly, we show the reason why the Kirk cycle is adopted for the refrigeration, and deal with the structure of cryogenic miniature refrigerator. The refrigeration power of this refrigerator is 72 watts max, at an operating temperature of 77K, and excellent characteristics are obtained in the actual COP, the specific volume and the specific weight. Secondly, we pointed out the failures of the trial Kirk cycle refrigerator. General failures may be divided into four modes; catastrophic, critical, marginal and negligible failures. We investigate the critical failures of the swash plate type driving system, and the calculated results of the reliability are given.
