An Experimental Study on the Cooling Characteristics of an Infrared Detector Cryochamber

摘要

Infrared (IR) detectors are widely used for many applications, such as temperature measurement, intruder and fire detection, robotics and industrial equipment, thermoelstic stress analysis, medical diagnostics, and chemical analysis. Quantum detectors commonly need to be refrigerated below 80 K, and thus a cooling system should be equipped together with the detector system. The cooling load, which should be removed by the cooling system to maintain the nominal operating temperature of the detector, critically depends on the insulation efficiency of the cryochamber housing the detector. Thermal analysis of cryochamber includes the conduction heat transfer through a cold well, the gases conduction and gas outgassing, as well as radiation heat transfer, The transient cooling characteristics of an infrared detector cryochamber are investigated experimentally in the present study. The transient cooling load increases as the gas pressure is increased. Gas pressure becomes significant as the cooling process proceeds. Cool down time is also increased as the gas pressure is increased. It is also found that natural convection effects on cool down time become significant when the gas pressure is increased.