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Enhancement of the Liquefaction Rate in Small-Scale Helium Liquefiers Working Near and Above the Critical Point

C. Rillo, M. Gabal, M. P. Lozano, J. Sesé, S. Spagna, J. Diederichs, R. Sager, C. Chialvo, J. Terry, G. Rayner, R. Warburton, and R. Reineman
Phys. Rev. Applied 3, 051001 – Published 8 May 2015
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Abstract

Low-temperature research laboratories with typical liquid-helium consumption of the order of tens of liters per day have greatly benefited from the recent development of small-scale liquefiers. In general, these liquefiers are based on Gifford-McMahon or pulse-tube closed-cycle refrigerators with a nominal cooling power ranging from 1 to 1.5 W at 4.2 K. The liquefaction rate for these cryocooler-based liquefiers depends on the pressure at which the helium is liquefied, although the final user conditions of the produced liquid helium are always atmospheric pressure and boiling temperature (e.g., 4.2 K at 100 kPa). Here, we show a systematic study on this effect, in which an enhancement in excess of 70% in liquefaction rate is found experimentally for pressures near and above the critical point of helium (220 kPa). We propose that the underlying mechanism for the liquefaction enhancement is based on the increase in cryocooler cooling power with temperature and the decrease of the helium enthalpy with pressure.

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  • Received 27 January 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.3.051001

This article is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

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Liquid Helium Brewed Locally

Published 8 May 2015

A new device for recycling the helium coolant in an MRI scanner or similar machine uses elevated pressure to dramatically increase the rate at which helium is liquefied.

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Authors & Affiliations

C. Rillo1,2, M. Gabal2,3, M. P. Lozano2,3, J. Sesé2,3, S. Spagna4, J. Diederichs4, R. Sager4, C. Chialvo4, J. Terry4, G. Rayner4, R. Warburton5, and R. Reineman5

  • 1Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón (ICMA), CSIC-Universidad de Zaragoza, E-50009 Zaragoza, Spain
  • 2Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad de Zaragoza, E-50009 Zaragoza, Spain
  • 3Instituto de Nanociencia de Aragón (INA), Laboratorio de Microscopías Avanzadas (LMA), Universidad de Zaragoza, E-50018 Zaragoza, Spain
  • 4Quantum Design, Inc., San Diego, California 92121, USA
  • 5GWR Instruments, Inc., San Diego, California 92121, USA

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Vol. 3, Iss. 5 — May 2015

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