Perforated plates for cryogenic regenerators and method of fabrication

Patent · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:869213

Hendricks, John B ^[1]

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1. Huntsville, AL

Perforated plates (10) having very small holes (14) with a uniform diameter throughout the plate thickness are prepared by a "wire drawing" process in which a billet of sacrificial metal is disposed in an extrusion can of the plate metal, and the can is extruded and restacked repeatedly, converting the billet to a wire of the desired hole diameter. At final size, the rod is then sliced into wafers, and the wires are removed by selective etching. This process is useful for plate metals of interest for high performance regenerator applications, in particular, copper, niobium, molybdenum, erbium, and other rare earth metals. Er.sub.3 Ni, which has uniquely favorable thermophysical properties for such applications, may be incorporated in regions of the plates by providing extrusion cans (20) containing erbium and nickel metals in a stacked array (53) with extrusion cans of the plate metal, which may be copper. The array is heated to convert the erbium and nickel metals to Er.sub.3 Ni. Perforated plates having two sizes of perforations (38, 42), one of which is small enough for storage of helium, are also disclosed.

• Research Organization: Alabama Cryogenic Engineering, Inc., Huntsville, AL
• DOE Contract Number: FG05-90ER81018
• Assignee: Alabama Cryogenic Engineering, Inc. (Huntsville, AL)
• Patent Number(s): US 5298337
• OSTI ID: 869213
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

/428/29/
10
14
20
38
42
53
applications
array
billet
cans
containing
convert
converting
copper
cryogenic
desired
diameter
disclosed
disposed
drawing
earth
earth metal
earth metals
erbium
etching
extruded
extrusion
fabrication
favorable
final
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heated
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holes
incorporated
metal
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molybdenum
nickel
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niobium
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perforations
performance
physical properties
plate
plates
prepared
process
properties
providing
rare
rare earth
regenerator
regenerators
regions
removed
repeatedly
restacked
rod
sacrificial
sacrificial metal
selective
selective etch
selective etching
size
sizes
sliced
stacked
stacked array
storage
thermophysical
thickness
throughout
uniform
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uniquely
useful
wafers
wire
wires