Regenerative sorption compressors for cryogenic refrigeration

Dramatic efficiency improvements for sorption coolers appear possible with use of compressor heat regeneration techniques. The general theory of sorption compressor heat regeneration is discussed in this paper, and several design concepts are presented. These designs result in long-life, low-vibration cryocoolers that potentially have efficiencies comparable to Stirling refrigerators for 65 to 90 K spacecraft instrument cooling applications.