In this paper the exergy analysis of a double inlet pulse tube cryocooler (DIPTC) has been performed. The pulsating mass flow has been modelled by a sinusoidal approximation using phasor analysis. The corresponding values were used to find out the average exergy flow through and exergy destructions in various components. The effect of different parameters on the exergy flow and exergy destruction has been studied over a large range of parameters. The parameters considered here are frequency, cold end temperature, valve coefficients of orifice valve and double inlet (DI) valve, system average pressure and initial phase angle of compressor outlet pressure. A higher sensitivity of the losses in a DIPTC system is observed with operating frequency and initial phase angle of compressor pressure within some specific range of these parameters. It was observed that for a DIPTC system there is a critical cold end temperature below which the losses are significant and also there exists a critical frequency below which there will practically be no cooling. It was found that the losses in the DIPTC are more sensitive to the orifice valve opening in comparison to the DI valve opening. A Grassmann diagram has also been constructed for the DIPTC. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.