NASA Goddard Cryogenics Group, Ball Cryocooler Photo Descriptions

Ball Engineering Model Cooler

The Ball Engineering Model Cooler sits on a shiny metal table.

On the left hand side is a shiny black dome that covers part of the cooler.

On the right is an uncovered section. The base of the section is a shiny, gold-colored, mostly cylindrical piece. The bottom of the base is a disk, and the top is a disk with a large circular hole in the middle and a groove just outside the hole. The top and bottom disks stick out farther than the walls for most of the way around.

Sitting in the hole in the base is a vertical piece, mostly cylindrical. The bottom cylinder is much smaller in diameter than the hole in the base. It sticks up above the base and ends in a flat circular flange that is wider than the cylinder. Atop the flange is another cylinder, thinner than the first but just as long. It, too, ends in a flange. Atop this second flange is a much shorter cylinder.

Three bundles of white wires are attached to the apparatus. A pair of clip leads (black and red) are holding on near a connector at the right hand side of the cooler. In the background, some clear plastic tubes come in. A metal tube emerges from the base of the shiny black dome and runs to a small valve with a shiny metal base and a round, green and white handle. Another shiny, silver-colored metal tube leaves the valve and connects to a copper tube which leaves the frame of the picture.

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Ball Prototype Cooler

The Ball Prototype Cooler sits atop a shiny, silver-colored metal surface. In front of the cooler is a 12 inch ruler, which shows us that the cooler is about 12 inches wide. The cooler is clearly divided into 2 sections, a larger one on the left and a smaller one on the right.

The left hand section has its own raised base, a plate of shiny metal, that is about 5 inches long and sits about 6 inches above the table top. Most of working part the left hand section is hidden inside two shiny black cylinders. The cylinders, which appear to be 3 or 4 inches in diameter, are moundted on the metal base plate so that one sticks up and the other sticks down. The one that sticks down reaches almost to the table top. The one that sticks up is about the same length. The cylinders are of a constant diameter for most of their length, but curve in slightly at the end away from the base plate. On the end of each cylinder is a shiny, silver-colored metal flange. A few metal fittings protrude from the flange. A metal tube attaches to the base of the top cylinder. It connects to a copper tube which, after coiling around a couple of times, connects to a valve. The valve has a round, green and white handle. A short piece of metal tube protrudes from the other end of the valve.

The right hand section is smaller. Its base plate sits only about 3/4 or 2/3 as high off the table top. This section, like the left hand section, has 2 cylinders mounted on the plate, one sticking up, the other sticking down. They're smaller in diameter than the cylinders on the left -- in fact, they're about the same diameter as the end flanges on the left-hand cylinders. The top cylinder is shiny black, but the bottom one is shiny silver-colored.

There are holes in the table top just below each down pointing cylinder. Each hole is about the same diameter as the cylinder.

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