Quick Shot

The palladium (Pd) tritide bed is used to receive tritium from a uranium storage bed or a gas vessel and then compress the gas into a cavity, such as a target, at an elevated pressure without the need to heat the palladium above 200°C. The green tubular vessel is part of an acoustically driven Stirling-cycle cryocooler used to thermally cycle the Pd bed from 150 K to 200°C. These Pd beds are deployed in the Hydrogen Isotope Separation System and the Cryogenic Fill-Tube-Target Test Facility. Walter Shmayda is the principal architect and the cooling scheme was designed by Bob Earley. (Although it is displayed horizontally, it will only be used in a vertical orientation.)