Cryogenic Cooling System
Patent No. US12320557 (titled "Cryogenic Cooling System") was filed by Oxford Nanoscience Ltd on May 23, 2024.
What is this patent about?
’557 is related to the field of cryogenic cooling systems , particularly those used in demanding applications like superconducting quantum computing. Existing dilution refrigerators, while effective in academic settings, are limited in scalability and adaptability for industrial quantum information processing (QIP). The increasing heat loads from larger quantum computers and the need for more experimental space necessitate a more flexible and commercially viable solution.
The underlying idea behind ’557 is to create a modular cryogenic cooling system . Instead of a single, fixed-size refrigerator, the system comprises multiple interconnected modules. Each module contains its own cooling stages and can be connected to others via side faces. This allows for incremental scaling of the system's cooling power and internal volume, addressing the limitations of traditional designs.
The claims of ’557 focus on a cryogenic cooling system with a modular architecture . It includes a cryogenic refrigerator assembly and two or more connected modules. Each module has a housing with multiple side faces and internal cooling stages. The modules connect at their side faces, and a stage in one module is thermally coupled to a stage in another module using extension plates.
In practice, the modular design allows users to build a cryogenic system incrementally. By connecting modules, the shared internal volume and total cooling power increase. The extension plates facilitate thermal coupling between stages of different modules, enabling the sharing of cooling power and balancing of heat loads. This modularity also simplifies servicing, as individual modules can be accessed and maintained independently.
This modular approach differs significantly from prior art cylindrical dilution refrigerators. The orthogonal side faces of the modules allow for efficient space utilization and close packing. Furthermore, the system enables the integration of diverse cooling technologies across different modules, such as combining cryocoolers, liquid cryogen reservoirs, and dilution units. This flexibility allows for customized cooling solutions tailored to specific experimental needs, particularly in the context of scaling up quantum computing systems.
How does this patent fit in bigger picture?
Technical landscape at the time
In the early 2020s when ’557 was filed, cryogenic cooling systems for quantum computing were typically implemented using dilution refrigerators with vertically-spaced copper plates inside a cylindrical vacuum vessel. At a time when scaling up cooling power was non-trivial, systems commonly relied on single, large dilution units rather than modular architectures. When hardware or software constraints made balancing heat loads across multiple devices non-trivial.
Novelty and Inventive Step
The examiner approved the application because the prior art failed to teach or make obvious the use of extension plates to thermally couple stages of different modules in a cryogenic cooling system. Specifically, the examiner stated that the prior art references, while disclosing cryogenic cooling systems with connected modules and multiple dilution units, did not disclose or suggest the claimed limitation of "one or more extension plates; and wherein a first said stage of the plurality of stages of a first said module is thermally coupled to a first stage of the plurality of stages of a second said module by the one or more extension plates."
Claims
This patent contains 26 claims, with claim 1 being the only independent claim. The independent claim focuses on a cryogenic cooling system comprising a cryogenic refrigerator assembly and two or more connected modules. The dependent claims generally elaborate on specific features, configurations, and components of the cryogenic cooling system described in the independent claim.
Key Claim Terms New
Definitions of key terms used in the patent claims.
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Date
Description
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US12320557
- Application Number
- US18673039
- Filing Date
- May 23, 2024
- Status
- Granted
- Expiry Date
- May 10, 2043
- External Links
- Slate, USPTO, Google Patents