Cold-Tip Temperature Control of Space-borne Satellite Stirling Cryocooler: Mathematical Modeling and Control Investigation

Abstract

IR (Infra-Red) detectors are widely used in Space-borne remote sensing satellites. In order to achieve a high signal to noise ratio, the IR detectors need to be operated at cryogenic temperatures. Traditionally, the cryogenic cooling of these detectors is achieved using passive cooling techniques. However recent trend is to employ Stirlingcycle based miniaturized active cryocoolers. An accurate and stringent control of active cryocooler cold-tip temperature is essential to accomplish high signal & image quality from the IR detectors. This paper presents work on investigations and comparison of performance of proposed 2-DOF (2-Degrees-of-Freedom) versus traditional 1-DOF feedback-control structures for the control of cryocooler cold-tip temperature used in IR (Infra-Red) detectors of Space Satellites. Towards this, first-principle based control oriented mathematical model simulated in Matlab/Simulink is proposed to support such investigation and controller tuning. Open-loop (system) and closedloop (controls) simulation results are tuned & validated with the experimental data obtained from the Lab-scale testsetup of a commercial Stirlingcryocooler. The performance of 2-DOF feedback control structures are analyzed with the help of experiment results offering a better cold-tip temperature control performance.