Indian Journal of Cryogenics

The regenerator is the most important component in pulse tube refrigerator. Ideally, regenerator with zero pressure drop and unit effectiveness are desirable.The present study aims at evaluating the pressure drop characteristics of flow along a compact regnerator.When there is a flow through a channel, the pressure drop will naturally occur due to the frictional factor and the boundary layer effects. The pressure drop characteristics along a regenerator for steady and unsteady flows are compared. A regenerator having cylindrical channels of porosity 0.62 is considered. The working fluid used is helium gas. The regenerator material used is stainless steel. The analysis is done in ANSYS FLUENT 14 software by providing suitable boundary conditions, both steady and unsteady flows are simulated through the regenerator channels at constant Reynolds number and their pressure drop characteristics are compared. The effect of the change in the compressor frequency from 40 to 80 Hz and the Reynolds number ranging from 2820 to 5650 on the pressure drop along the regenerator is investigated.