OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH AND APPLICATION OF FREE-PISTON STIRLING COOLER

An overview about the development history and research progress of free-piston Stirling cooler（FPSC）is presented.FPSCs are compared with split-Stirling coolers.It is obvious that relative Carnot efficiency of FPSC is higher than that of split-Stirling cooler.With the advantages of high efficiency，compactness and large cooling temperature range，FPSC is applied in many fields such as space technology，superconductor，ultra-low temperature freezer and domestic refrigeration.FPSCs are also expected applied to many other fields.At last，according to the development status of FPSC，some advices are provided，which would be useful to the developments and applications of FPSCs.