A system and method for regulating the flow of a fluid refrigerant to a cooling element

摘要

A system (10) for providing a fluid refrigerant to a cooling element (26) is provided herein. The system (10) includes a vessel (12) which holds the fluid refrigerant, a heat source (51) evaporating a portion of the fluid in the vessel (12), and a heat exchanger (28) condensing a portion of the gaseous phase (16) of the fluid in the vessel (12). A conduit (20) establishes fluid communication between: (i) the vessel (12) and the cooling element (26); and (ii) the cooling element (26) and the heat exchanger (28). Importantly, the system (10) controls the flow rate of the fluid refrigerant to the cooling element (26) by controlling the pressure of the fluid in the vessel (12). The system (10) is particularly useful with cryogenic fluid refrigerants to cool a superconductor for an MRI System.