A refrigerating appliance (100) is provided, which comprises: —at least one storage compartment (110) for storing goods to be refrigerated; —a refrigeration circuit comprising at least one evaporator (170) associated with said at least one storage compartment (110); —a control unit (172) configured to control operation of the refrigerating appliance (100); —at least one fan (171), configured to promote heat exchange between said at least one evaporator (170) and the at least one storage compartment (110), said at least one fan (171) being further configured to be switched between a first operative condition in which said at least one fan (171) is commanded to rotate, and a second operative condition in which said at least one fan (171) is commanded to not rotate; —a MEMS pressure sensor (180) configured to measure the pressure inside said at least one storage compartment (110) and in signal communication with the control unit (172) for providing a pressure signal proportional to the measure of the pressure inside said at least one storage compartment (110), wherein the control unit (172) is configured to control the operation of the refrigerating appliance (100) in function of said pressure signal received when said at least one fan (171) is in the first operative condition.

A miniature Joule-Thomson cryocooler operating at liquid helium temperatures includes an integral structure formed by welding at least three base plates sequentially superposed, an outermost base plate in the at least three base plates is configured as a cover plate and configured to seal the rest of the at least three base plates, the rest of the at least three base plates is configured as a first-stage cooling circulator, a second-stage cooling circulator and a third-stage cooling circulator respectively, the first-stage cooling circulator, the second-stage cooling circulator and the third-stage cooling circulator have a first-stage working fluid, a second-stage working fluid and a third-stage working fluid respectively, the first-stage cooling circulator is configured to precool the second-stage working fluid and the third-stage working fluid through the first-stage working fluid, and the second-stage cooling circulator is configured to precool the third-stage working fluid through the second-stage working fluid.

A solid state cooler device is provided that includes a substrate, a first and second conductive pad disposed on the substrate, a first and second superconductor pad each having a side with a plurality of conductive pad contact interfaces spaced apart from one another and being in contact with a surface of respective first and second conductive pads, and a first and second insulating layer disposed between respective first and second superconductor pads, and respective ends of a normal metal layer. A bias voltage is applied between one of a first conductive pad or first superconductor pad and one of the second conductive pad or the second superconductor pad to remove hot electrons from the normal metal layer, and the contact area of the plurality of first and second conductive pad contact interfaces inhibits the transfer of heat back to the first and second superconductor pads.

A superconductor thermal filter is disclosed that includes a normal metal layer having a first side, an insulating layer overlying the first side of the normal metal layer, and a multilayer superconductor structure having a first side overlying a side of the insulating layer opposite the side that overlies the normal metal layer. The multilayer superconductor structure is comprised of a plurality of superconductor layers with each superconductor layer having a smaller superconducting energy band gap than the preceding superconductor as the superconductor layers extend away from the normal metal layer. The thermal filter further includes a normal metal layer quasiparticle trap having a first side and a second side with the first side being disposed on a second side of the multilayer superconductor. A bias voltage is applied between the normal metal layer and the normal metal layer quasiparticle trap to remove hot electrons from the normal metal layer.

A refrigerating appliance (100) is provided. The refrigerating appliance (100) comprises: —at least one storage compartment (110) for storing goods to be refrigerated; —a pressure sensor (180), —a control unit (172) configured to control operation of the refrigerating appliance (100), the control unit (172) being in signal communication with said pressure sensor (180); wherein: —said pressure sensor (180) is a MEMS pressure sensor configured to measure the pressure inside said at least one storage compartment (110) and to transmit to the control unit (172) a corresponding pressure signal proportional to said measured pressure, the control unit (172) being configured to control the operation of the refrigerating apparatus (100) based on the pressure signal received from the pressure sensor (180).

A cooling system includes a dual plate structure having a porous material disposed between the plates such that the porous material is sealed from ambient at a pressure less than ambient. A cooling device is thermally coupled to a mobile device supported by the structure and actively removes heat from the mobile device.

Techniques are disclosed for systems and methods using microelectromechanical systems MEMS techniques to provide cryogenic and/or general cooling of a device or sensor system. In one embodiment, a system includes a compressor assembly and MEMS expander assembly in fluid communication with the compressor assembly via a gas transfer line configured to physically separate and thermally decouple the MEMS expander assembly from the compressor assembly. The MEMS expander assembly includes a plurality of expander cells each including a MEMS displacer, a cell regenerator, and an expansion volume disposed between the MEMS displacer and the cell regenerator, and the plurality of cell regenerators are configured to combine to form a contiguous shared regenerator for the MEMS expander assembly.

A solid state cooler device is provided that includes a substrate, a first and second conductive pad disposed on the substrate, a first and second superconductor pad each having a side with a plurality of conductive pad contact interfaces spaced apart from one another and being in contact with a surface of respective first and second conductive pads, and a first and second insulating layer disposed between respective first and second superconductor pads, and respective ends of a normal metal layer. A bias voltage is applied between one of a first conductive pad or first superconductor pad and one of the second conductive pad or the second superconductor pad to remove hot electrons from the normal metal layer, and the contact area of the plurality of first and second conductive pad contact interfaces inhibits the transfer of heat back to the first and second superconductor pads.

A superconductor thermal filter is disclosed that includes a normal metal layer having a first side, an insulating layer overlying the first side of the normal metal layer, and a multilayer superconductor structure having a first side overlying a side of the insulting layer opposite the side that overlies the normal metal layer. The multilayer superconductor structure is comprised of a plurality of superconductor layers with each superconductor layer having a smaller superconducting energy band gap than the preceding superconductor as the superconductor layers extend away from the normal metal layer. The thermal filter further includes a normal metal layer quasiparticle trap having a first side and a second side with the first side being disposed on a second side of the multilayer superconductor. A bias voltage is applied between the normal metal layer and the normal metal layer quasiparticle trap to remove hot electrons from the normal metal layer.

A cooling system includes a dual plate structure having a porous material disposed between the plates such that the porous material is sealed from ambient at a pressure less than ambient. A cooling device is thermally coupled to a mobile device supported by the structure and actively removes heat from the mobile device.