A fundamental study of cryopumping of a charcoal sorption panel with a refrigerator was performed aimed at applications in nuclear fusion experiments. Typical pumping speeds at the cryopanel temperature of 10.4 K for hydrogen, helium and argon were obtained as 3.5 × 10−1, 1.6 × 10−2 and 1.0 m3/s, respectively, in the range of throughput less than 1 × 10−4 Pa ·m3/s. The pumping speed was found to increase linearly on a semilogarithmic plots with the inverse of adsorption temperature. The activation energy of hydrogen capture on the charcoal was estimated between 100 J/mol to 240 J/mol, which is nearly equal to the heat of fusion of hydrogen. Several experiments to improve cryopumping performance were also carried out by modification of the shape of the cryopanel, and by evaporation of titanium onto the panel and etc.