Věra Musilová

Cryogenic apparatus for study of near-field heat transfer

For bodies spaced in vacuum at distances shorter than the wavelength of the thermal radiation, radiative heat transfer substantially increases due to the contribution of evanescent electromagnetic waves. Experimental data on heat transfer in near-field regime are scarce. We have designed a cryogenic apparatus for the study of heat transfer over microscopic distances between metallic and non-metallic surfaces. Using a mechanical positioning system, a planeparallel gap between the samples, concentric disks, each 35 mm in diameter, is set and varied from 10(0) to 10(3) μm. The heat transferred from the hot (10 - 100 K) to the cold sample (∼5 K) sinks into a liquid helium bath through a thermal resistor, serving as a heat flux meter. Transferred heat power within ∼2 nW∕cm(2) and ∼30 μW∕cm(2) is derived from the temperature drop along the thermal resistor. For tungsten samples, the distance of the near-field effect onset was inversely proportional to temperature and the heat power increase was observed up to three orders of magnitude greater than the power of far-field radiative heat transfer.

Helium cryostat for experimental study of natural turbulent convection

Published experiments on natural turbulent convection in cryogenic (4)He gas show contradictory results in the values of Rayleigh number (Ra) higher than 10(11). This paper describes a new helium cryostat with a cylindrical cell designed for the study of the dependence of the Nusselt number (Nu) on the Rayleigh number (up to Ra approximately 10(15)) in order to help resolve the existing controversy among published experimental results. The main part of the cryostat is a cylindrical convection cell of 300 mm in diameter and up to 300 mm in height. The cell is designed for measurement of heat transfer by natural convection at pressures ranging from 100 Pa to 250 kPa and at temperatures between 4.2 and 12 K. Parasitic heat fluxes into the convection medium are minimized by using thin sidewalls of the bottom and top parts of the cell. The exchangeable central part of the cell enables one to modify the cell geometry.

Method for measurement of emissivity and absorptivity of highly reflective surfaces from 20 K to room temperatures

We present a cryogenic method for the measurement of total hemispherical emissivity and absorptivity of various materials at temperatures from 320 K down to ≈20 K. In absorptivity measurement the temperature of the examined sample is kept at ≈5 K–35 K. Radiative heat flow between two plane parallel surfaces of 40 mm in diameter disk samples placed in a vacuum, a sample and a disk with reference surface, is absorbed by a colder sample and sinks into an LHe bath via a thermal resistor (heat flow meter). Heat flow is measured by substitution method, using thermal output of an electrical heater for heat flow meter calibration. A great deal of attention is paid to the estimation of uncertainties associated with this method. Capabilities of the instrument are demonstrated by the absorptivity and emissivity measurement of the pure aluminium sample. The expanded fractional uncertainty (k = 2) in emissivity e = 0.0041 measured at ≈30 K for pure aluminium is less than 11% and for values of emissivity e > 0.0053 measured above 60 K the uncertainties are below 7%. The method was designed primarily for the measurement of highly reflective materials like pure metals, nevertheless high emissivity of the reference sample also enables the measurement of non-metallic materials with reasonable accuracy.

Small helium bath cryopump for electron optical devices

Abstract A small helium bath cryopump for electron optical devices has been designed and manufactured. The filling volumes of LHe and LN2 are 2.5 and 3.6 l, respectively. Special electron beam welding methods were utilised for the pump structure. The heat loads of the cryogens were minimised using numerical methods. An LHe refill interval of 30 days was reached, whereas that of LN2 is 6 days. Good agreement between the calculated and measured values has been found. An ultimate pressure of 3×10 −7 Pa and a pumping speed better than that of a comparable ion pump were reached during a preliminary testing of pumping properties.