Summary and Results of Hughes Improved Standard Spacecraft Cryocooler Vibration Suppression Experiment

The application of split Stirling cycle cryogenic coolers to space-borne infrared (IR) surveillance sensors requires that the vibrations imparted to the optical sensor be kept to an absolute minimum, while still allowing the cooler to operate with power sufficient to cool a 1 ∼2 W load to temperatures on the order of 60K. One method of accomplishing this is by applying an Adaptive Feedforward (AFF) algorithm to generate an auxiliary motor drive signal which, when summed with the sinusoidal drive signal in the motor drive, cancels out the residual cooler vibrations.