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  Cryogenic refrigerator including separating deviceRelated Patent Categories: Refrigeration, Gas Compression, Heat Regeneration And Expansion, E.g., Stirling CycleThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070074522. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2005-91824, filed on Sep. 30, 2005, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the invention [0003] The present invention relates to a cryogenic refrigerator including a separating device, and more particularly to a cryogenic refrigerator including a separating device provided between a lower temperature portion and a heat exchanger for selectively blocking heat transfer between the lower temperature portion and the heat exchanger by the separating device, during maintenance. [0004] 2. Description of the Prior Art [0005] Typically, there is a need for a cryogenic environment in a variety of fields including high vacuum related industries, energy related industries, medical industries, transportation related industries, food industries, aerospace industries, telecommunication industries, etc, and its practical applications have been increasingly expanded as technology in these fields develops. [0006] Refrigeration technology is that it liquefies nitrogen, argon, helium, etc, circulates and stores these liquefied liquids in any suitable ways, cyclically delivers them to a place in which refrigeration is required, and thus achieves a cryogenic environment. Cryogenic refrigerator is divided into two regions; a closed system region for liquid nitrogen coolant(hereinafter referred to a heat exchanger), which has a relatively high temperature range of 76-77K, and a closed system region for liquid helium coolant(hereinafter referred to a lower temperature portion), which has a relatively low temperature range of about 4.2K very close to 0k. Recently, cryogenic refrigerator combining these two coolant regions is used. Although not shown in Figs, the above-mentioned lower temperature portion and heat exchanger have their own coolant inlet port and coolant outlet port. [0007] According to the above-mentioned cryogenic refrigerator construction, heat is transferred from the heat exchanger to the lower temperature portion depending upon a temperature gradient. However, in order to perform a maintenance operation for the cryogenic refrigerator comprised of the lower temperature portion and the heat exchanger, it is necessary to disassemble the lower temperature portion which is adjacent to a body section, and while performing a maintenance operation after the disassembly, the temperature of the lower temperature portion is raised to cause the temperature gradient to go into reverse, and thus there is involved a problem that heat is transferred from the lower temperature portion to the heat exchanger being directly contacted with an article to be refrigerated. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0008] Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the invention is to provide a cryogenic refrigerator capable of preventing heat transfer from the lower temperature portion to the heat exchanger, during a maintenance operation of the cryogenic refrigerator. [0009] The above object of the present invention is achieved by a cryogenic refrigerator comprising a lower temperature portion, a heat exchanger, and a separating device provided between the lower temperature portion and the heat exchanger to selectively separate the lower temperature portion and the heat exchanger, and thus to selectively block heat transfer between the lower temperature portion and the heat exchanger. [0010] Here, the separating device may include an upper plate; a lower plate having a shape corresponding to that of the upper plate; side plates connecting the upper plate and the lower plate to form a cavity portion therein; and a conduit supplying gas to the cavity portion or discharging the gas from the cavity portion, and when the gas is supplied to the cavity portion, the separating device is expanded to separate the upper plate and the lower plate away from each other, and thus to block the heat transfer between the lower temperature portion and the heat exchanger, and when the gas is discharged from the cavity portion, the separating device is contracted to closely contact the upper plate with the lower plate toward each other, and thus to permit the heat transfer between the lower temperature portion and the heat exchanger. [0011] According to the present invention, the separating device may be comprised of aluminum, copper, stainless steel, or oxygen-free copper, and the gas supplied to the cavity portion may consist of nitrogen, helium, or argon. [0012] Meanwhile, according to the invention, an adhesive layer may be applied onto opposite faces of the upper plate and the lower plate of the separating device, thereby easily keeping a close contact state of the upper plate and the lower plate upon contracting of the separating device. [0013] Here, the adhesive layer may consist of indium. [0014] Meanwhile, according to the present invention, the separating device may include two or more conduits adapted for supplying the gas into the cavity portion or discharging the gas from the cavity portion. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0015] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: [0016] FIG. 1 is a front view of a cryogenic refrigerator including a separating device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing a state in which the cryogenic refrigeration operates while the separating device is contracted; [0017] FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the separating device in FIG. 1; [0018] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III' of FIG. 2; [0019] FIG. 4 is a front view of a cryogenic refrigerator being in a maintenance state while the separating device of FIG. 1 is expanded; [0020] FIG. 5 is a front view of a cryogenic refrigerator including a separating device according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing a state in which the cryogenic refrigeration operates while the separating device is contracted; Continue reading... Full patent description for Cryogenic refrigerator including separating device Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Cryogenic refrigerator including separating device patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Cryogenic refrigerator including separating device or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Method and apparatus for making heat dissipation device having vacuum chamber and working fluid therein Next Patent Application: Refrigerating apparatus Industry Class: Refrigeration ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Cryogenic refrigerator including separating device patent info. 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