Elementary Thermodynamics of Cryocoolers

The objective of this chapter is to review the various operating cycles of cryocoolers. For this to be meaningful it is necessary to be acquainted with the elements of thermodynamic analysis. For the benefit of those without such acquaintance we include a brief thermodynamics review. To the purists we offer apologies for liberties taken with the subject in the interest of brevity. A more rigorous treatment may be found in university engineering texts (see Rogers and Mayhew, 1967).