Low Maintenance and Low Cost Cryocooler Navy SBIR FY2009.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2009.1 Topic No.: N091-051 Topic Title: Low Maintenance and Low Cost Cryocooler Proposal No.: N091-051-0663 Firm: INFINIA CORPORATION 6811 West Okanogan Place Kennewick, Washington 99336-2374 Contact: SONGGANG QIU Phone: (509) 737-2119 Web Site: http://www.infiniacorp.com Abstract: Cryocoolers currently in use for High Temperature Superconducting Degaussing (HTSDG) systems onboard Navy ships (Gifford McMahon based) meet the basic performance requirement of 200 W of heat lift at 50�K. However they are inefficient (7.5 kW input power) and prone to frequent maintenance (10,000 hours). Infinia Corporation proposes the development of a maintenance-free, highly efficient practical design concept for a fully integrated low cost, Free piston Stirling Cryocooler (FSC) system that will provide in excess of 200 W (230 W target) of useful cooling capacity at a cold end temperature of 50�K, while consuming only 3.55 kW with a maintenance-free life of 72,000 hours. The system will directly utilize key elements of Infinia's commercial 3 kW hermetically sealed, free piston, Stirling engine imminently beginning mass-production for the solar energy market. The basic design uses unique flexure bearings and clearance seals, with no rubbing or wearing parts, and no lubricants. Development of the cryocooler system will result in a unit available at a dramatically lower cost, that operates at better than twice the efficiency of the current commercially used cryocooler, and requires significantly reduced maintenance. Benefits: The technology developed in the proposed FSC system has a great deal of commercial applicability to the HTS market. A product that generates 200 W of heat lift at 50�K, is maintenance free, and expandable to much higher heat lifts will help the propagation of HTS technology into a revised electrical grid in the form of fault current limiters, transmission components, generation components and storage devices. Infinia will be harnessing the manufacturability and proven reliability of its 3-kW multi-market Stirling engine (MMSE) as the core building block for a variety of products, including the proposed Free-piston Stirling Cryocooler (FSC). Infinia can dramatically lower production cost with the ability to mass produce the proposed system while maturing a single core design to the commercial level, never before accomplished with a Stirling engine. The current methods available for HTS cryocooling are relatively costly, and typically require redundant cryocoolers to provide the reliability needed for HTS devices. Production HTS devices are cost sensitive, making the proposed long life, high reliability, cost effective cryocooler a high value objective. Return