Vibration control of linear split Stirling cryogenic cooler for airborne infrared application

Modern infrared imagers often rely on the split Stirling cryogenic coolers the linear compressors of which are the well-known sources of harmonic disturbance. The traditional method of their passive isolation fails to meet the restraints on the static and dynamic deflections which are originated by the combined action of the airborne g-loading and harsh random vibration. The vibration protection system, which combines a stiff and heavily damped vibration isolator with tuned dynamic absorber, is studied and optimised for use in the design of an airborne infrared device. Such a design is aimed, primarily, at essential dynamic suppression of the harmonic force which is produced by the linear compressor and, secondarily, at minimisation of environmental vibration loads transmitted through the infrared device to the linear compressor. Experimental testing backed up the theoretical results.