Development of a miniature Joule-Thomson refrigerator using LTCC (Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic) technique

This paper reports the Simulation, Design, fabrication and preliminary testing results of a single channel, open cycle miniature Joule-Thomson (JT) refrigerator. Miniaturization of the refrigerator is aimed at providing an alternative that would suffice both the requirements of milli watt cooling as well as high portability owing to its light weight. The present work describes the manufacturing details and experimental investigations carried out on the heat exchanger that forms the most important component of such refrigerators. The miniature heat exchanger is made out of micro channels. This paper reports performance of heat exchangers, with varying sample dimensions. The width of the samples was varied keeping the channel dimensions constant and another set of studies with variations in sample length were carried. Out The channel had dimension of 58.5 × 1 (width) × 0.25 mm (depth).