2015.B.2.4. A “nano” rotary compressor with a 1:12 compression ratio for CubeSats

Author(s)

Olly Dmitriev (1)
Eugene Tabota (1)
Ian Arbon (1)

VERT Rotors, United Kingdom

Session

B.2

Keywords

rotary compressor

Abstract

The problem of active cooling for photo detectors in CubeSats becomes more important because 52% of space missions in 2015-2016 target Earth observation, and passive cooling does not provide the required temperatures of 180-200K to achieve the desired SNR levels. Reciprocating compressors used in cryocoolers cause vibrations. VERT Rotors has built an ultralow-vibration rotary compressor with 40mm-long screws, and our prototype delivered 1:12 compression ratio. This “nano” compressor is a non-conventional conical type consisting of an Inner conical screw rotor revolving inside an Outer screw rotor. The company is working on producing a CubeSat cooling kit based on this compressor.