Quasi-Weld-Free Bellows.
Abstract
This research investigated the merits of certain novel bellows designs for use in Stirling and pulse tube cryocooler compressors as an alternative to the present state of the art which uses flexure bearings. The Quasi-Weldfree (QWF) bellows incorporates the low dead volume of welded bellows and high fatigue life of formed bellows. There was also a secondary goal to investigate the merits of alternate materials. The design started with Roark-Laupa approximations to develop a preliminary baseline. The primary design effort started by developing a curve fit from the Expansion Joint Manufactures Association (EJMA) handbook (applicable to many different applications). The final design work was accomplished using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The design analysis found the following: life is very sensitive to small changes in operating parameters, variable thickness bellows are promising, EJMA and FEA showed reasonable agreement. No hardware was fabricated but techniques were investigated.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1995
- Accession Number
- ADB207090
Entities
People
- Arthur Sullivan
- Dave Clark
- Paul Ibanez
- William Raser