A small reverse Brayton cycle air refrigerator was designed and fabricated. Bump-type air journal foil bearing, pressurized thrust gas bearing and centrifugal blower as brake were employed in the turboexpander. Usually, constant brake inlet pressure is set in a reverse Brayton refrigerator. However, the unchanged brake inlet pressure cannot adapt to the changing temperature and expansion ratio during the cooling down process, which could go against the system performance. In this article, the relationship between the turboexpander operation parameters and brake pressure was disclosed through theoretical analysis. The performance curve was analyzed through numerical simulation using CFX. A matching model was established based on the theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. Brake pressure feedback control was then proposed and applied in the experimental study. Thermal performance of the refrigerator was tested under varied operating conditions (different expansion ratios, temperatures and brake pressures). The results indicated that the appropriate brake pressure facilitated system good thermal performance under both design and off-design conditions, and the theoretical results agreed well with the experimental data. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.