The LSST camera 500-watt -130 degC mixed refrigerant cooling system

Gordon B. Bowden; Brian J. Langton; William A. Little; Jacob R. Powers; Rafe H. Schindler; Sam Spektor

doi:10.1117/12.2054990

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18 July 2014 The LSST camera 500-watt -130°C mixed refrigerant cooling system

Gordon B. Bowden, Brian J. Langton, William A. Little, Jacob R. Powers, Rafe H. Schindler, Sam Spektor

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Proceedings Volume 9151, Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation; 91513D (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2054990
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2014, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

The LSST Camera has a higher cryogenic heat load than previous CCD telescope cameras due to its large size (634 mm diameter focal plane, 3.2 Giga pixels) and its close coupled front-end electronics operating at low temperature inside the cryostat. Various refrigeration technologies are considered for this telescope/camera environment. MMR-Technology’s Mixed Refrigerant technology was chosen. A collaboration with that company was started in 2009. The system, based on a cluster of Joule-Thomson refrigerators running a special blend of mixed refrigerants is described. Both the advantages and problems of applying this technology to telescope camera refrigeration are discussed. Test results from a prototype refrigerator running in a realistic telescope configuration are reported. Current and future stages of the development program are described.

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Gordon B. Bowden, Brian J. Langton, William A. Little, Jacob R. Powers, Rafe H. Schindler, and Sam Spektor "The LSST camera 500-watt -130°C mixed refrigerant cooling system", Proc. SPIE 9151, Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation, 91513D (18 July 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2054990

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