Development of a research cryostat for direct thermoacoustic cooling and conversion of hydrogen

Hydrogen thermoacoustics is a relatively unexplored but promising topic for development of new cryocoolers and hydrogen liquefaction. This paper describes a new research cryostat designed to investigate hydrogen as a working fluid in thermoacoustic systems. The cryostat is a modular, turbo-molecular pump driven, vacuum chamber with a 4.2 K pulse-tube cryocooler capable of 45 W of cooling at 50 K. Using this cryostat, a feasibility study of direct thermoacoustic cooling with ortho-parahydrogen conversion is initiated. An acoustic resonator system is designed to have the fundamental acoustic mode excited via imposed temperature gradient in a porous stack between the ambient environment and cold bar connected to the cryocooler. The generated acoustic waves transfer heat inside another porous stack to produce a refrigeration effect at cryogenic temperatures. In addition, the regenerator solid matrix will be catalyzed for ortho-parahydrogen conversion to demonstrate a novel combination of cooling and conversion of cryogenic hydrogen in a single device. Design, construction, and performance of the cryostat and modelling results for one thermoacoustic system are reported.