Control driver electronics for miniature pulse tube coolers

Abstract

A novel CDE (Control Driver Electronics) design, based on integrated digital control architecture (with FPGA), for powering and control the MPTC (Miniature Pulse Tube Coolers) is presented in this paper. This CDE was developed in the frame of the ESA Technology and Research Programme in order to attend the needs for space qualified electronic devices to deal with the MPTC functional and electrical requirements. The input and output electrical power requirements are disclosed, along with the Linear Motor s Voltage and accurate Cold-tip Temperature Control Loops performances. Besides, additional features like the input power bus current ripple reduction and the exported vibration cancellation are also presented. Then, the digital TM/TC functionalities are introduced and finally the overall performances obtained in the formal test campaign of an EM prototype are verified.