Cryostats State-Of-The-Art Technology

Submitted by
Digvijay Singh M.Tech Ist semester Thermal engineering Roll no: 11TH03F NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KARNATAKA

SURATHKAL.

INTRODUCTION

Cryogenics is a system that is operated at a temperature of 213 K or below. A cryogenic experiment or system is normally dominated by the need to get something cold and keep it cold, with other elements of the design subservient to that. Generally, the need to operate at cryogenic temperatures makes even an otherwise simple experiment complicated, and the colder you need to go, the harder life generally gets. Every cryogenic experiment needs some way of reaching low temperatures.

What is a cryostat?
A cryostat (from cryo meaning cold and stat meaning stationary) is a device used to maintain cold cryogenic temperatures. Low temperatures may be maintained within a cryostat by using various refrigeration methods, most commonly using cryogenic fluid bath such as liquid helium. Hence it is usually assembled into a vessel, similar in construction to a vacuum flask or Dewar. Cryostats have numerous applications within science, engineering, and medicine

PROVIDING A CRYOGENIC ENVIRONMENT

Methods of cooling upto 4K
Liquid cryogens Cooling with mechanical refrigerators a. Gifford McMohan coolers b. Pulse tube coolers Methods of cooling below 4K 1. Pumped helium-4 systems 2. Pumped helium-3 systems 3. Dilution refrigerators 4. Adiabatic demagnetization refrigerators
1. 2.

Types of cryostats
1.Closed cycle cryostat
Closed-cycle cryostats consist of a chamber through which cold helium vapour is pumped. An external mechanical refrigerator extracts the warmer helium exhaust vapour, which is cooled and recycled. Closed-cycle cryostats consume a relatively large amount of electrical power, but need not be refilled with helium and can run continuously for an indefinite period. Objects may be cooled by attaching them to a metallic cold plate inside a vacuum chamber which is in thermal contact with the helium vapour chamber.

2. Continuous-flow cryostats
Continuous-flow cryostats are cooled by liquid helium from a storage dewar. As the liquid helium boils within the cryostat, it is continuously replenished by a steady flow of liquid helium from the storage dewar. No electrical power is required by continuous-flow cryostats, but large quantities of expensive liquid helium are consumed during operation. Some laboratories have facilities to capture and recover the helium as it escapes from the cryostat, although these facilities are also costly to operate. The length of time over which cooling may be maintained is dictated by the volume of the storage dewar.

3. Bath cryostats
Bath cryostats are similar in construction to vacuum flasks filled with liquid helium. A coldplate is placed in thermal contact with the liquid helium bath. The liquid helium may be replenished as it boils away, at intervals between a few hours and several months, depending on the volume and construction of the cryostat. The boil-off rate is minimised by shielding the bath with either cold helium vapour, or vacuum shield with walls constructed from so-called super insulator material. The helium vapour which boils away from the bath very effectively cools thermal shields around the outside of the bath. In the older designs there may be additional liquid nitrogen bath, or several concentric layers of shielding, with gradually increasing temperatures. However, the invention of super insulator materials has obsoleted this technology.

4. Multistage cryostats
In order to achieve temperature lower than liquid helium additional cooler stages may be added to the cryostat. Temperatures down to 1K can be reached by attaching the coldplate to 1-K pot, which is a container of He-4 isotope which is connected to vacuum pump. Temperatures down to 1mK can be reached by employing dilution refrigerator or dry dilution refrigerator typically in addition to the main stage and 1K pot. Temperatures below that can be reached using magnetic refrigeration.

Items to be considered in cryostat design

Mechanical item Cryogenic item

Magnetic shield
Safety code

Mechanical item

Support structure Alignment method Thermal contraction Heat capacity Large amounts of contraction can occur when materials are cooled to cryogenic temperatures. Points to consider: Impact on alignment Development of interferences or gaps due to dissimilar materials Increased strain and possible failure Impact on wiring Most contraction occurs above 77 K Leak tightness

THERMAL CONTRACTION
Large amounts of

contraction can occur when materials are cooled to cryogenic temperatures. Points to consider: Impact on alignment Development of interferences or gaps due to dissimilar materials Increased strain and possible failure Impact on wiring Most contraction occurs above 77 K goes to 0 at 0 slope as T approaches 0 K is T independent at higher temperatures For practical work the integral thermal contraction is more useful.

Heat capacity
C = dU/dT or Q/mT In general, at cryogenic temperatures, C decreases rapidly with decreasing temperature. This has 2 important effects: Systems cool down faster as they get colder At cryogenic temperatures, small heat leaks may cause large temperature rises

Material selection
Suitable materials include
Austenitic stainless steels e.g. 304, 304L, 316, 321 Aluminum alloys e.g. 6061, 6063, 1100 Copper e.g. OFHC, ETP and phosphorous deoxidized

Brass Fiber reinforced plastics such as G 10 and G 11 Niobium & Titanium (frequently used in superconducting RF systems) Invar (Ni /Fe alloy) useful in making washers due to its lower coefficient of expansion Indium (used as an O ring material) Kapton and Mylar (used in Multilayer Insulation and as electrical insulation Quartz (used in windows)

Unsuitable materials include

Martensitic stainless steels Undergoes ductile to brittle transition when cooled down. Cast Iron also becomes brittle Carbon steels also becomes brittle. Sometimes used in 300 K vacuum vessels but care must be taken that breaks in cryogenic lines do not cause the vacuum vessels to cool down and fail. Rubber, Teflon and most plastics although plastic insulated wires are frequently OK as long as the wire is not repeatedly flexed which could lead to cracking of the insulation.

Cryogenic Item

Pipe size : flow rate, pressure Heat load conduction convection radiation Instrumentation Dont use more accuracy & precision than required Use commercially produced sensors whenever possible When possible, mount sensors outside cryostat(e.g. pressure transducers, flow meters) For critical devices inside of cryostats, install redundant sensors whenever feasible Be sure to consider how to recalibrate sensors Once R&D is done, minimize number of sensors in series production of cryostats

Minimizing conduction heat loss

Using lower conductivity materials for supports e.g. G-10 Increasing length and decreasing cross sectional area of connections between room temperature & cryogenic temperatures Reducing as much as possible amount of instrumentation wiring Using heat intercepts at intermediate temperatures (less heat leak to coldest

temperatures)

Minimizing convection heat loss

Standard Dewar design
10-6 torr or better is best for isolation vacuum

Vacuum pressure is frequently much better than due to cryopumping of cold surface

Minimizing radiation heat loss

A major source of cryostat heat leak
One way to reduce heat leak is to select low emissivity materials Be careful of oxidation & the impact of real vs. ideal materials Use Multilayer Insulation (MLI) or superinsulation inside the vacuum space to reduce heat leak

SAFETY WITH CRYOSTAT

POTENTIAL HAZARDS
CUTS, INFECTION BIOLOGICAL EXPOSURE (Aerosols) CHEMICAL EXPOSURE (Disinfectants)

FROSTBITE

Wear personal protective equipment:

* gloves

* lab coat

* eye protection, if necessary

* face protection, if necessary Routinely inspect to ensure integrity of components. Check knife guard is in position and cryostat hand wheel is in the

locked position before positioning sample.

 If histofreeze is used, the cryostat cover should only be opened the

minimum required, to prevent exposure to aerosols.

Ensure distractions will be at a minimum. Prolonged contact of bare skin to frozen surfaces of the instrument or to frozen accessories can cause frostbite. When cleaning knife, use a tissue, wiping AWAY from the knife edge.

CLEAN UP Tissue and shavings must be disposed of correctly. If cutting infectious material, disinfect after cleaning with a commercial disinfectant such as Leica Cryofect or wipe all surfaces with absolute ethanol and then place an opened container of 10% Formalin in the cryostat; leave overnight. Dispose of blades in sharps container

Tips of succesful cryostat design

Define requirements first
Design in safety from the start Use appropriate materials for cryogenic

temperatures Review literature & learn from previous efforts Use tested commercial solutions whenever possible Avoid feedthroughs & demountable seals at cryogenic temperatures Conduct prototype tests when required

APPLICATIONS
1. Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Research magnet types

Cryostats used in MRI machines are designed to hold a cryogen, typically helium, in a liquid state with minimal evaporation (boil-off). The liquid helium bath is designed to keep the superconducting magnet's bobbin of superconductive wire in its superconductive state. In this state the wire has no electrical resistance and very large currents are maintained with a low power input. To maintain superconductivity, the bobbin must be kept below its transition temperature by being immersed in the liquid helium. If, for any reason, the wire becomes resistive, i.e. loses superconductivity, a condition known as a "quench", the liquid helium evaporates, instantly raising pressure within the vessel. A burst disk, usually made of carbon, is placed within the chimney or vent pipe so that during a pressure excursion, the gaseous helium can be safely vented out of the MRI suite. Modern MRI cryostats use a mechanical refrigerator (cryocooler) to re-condense the helium gas and return it to the bath, to maintain cryogenic conditions and to conserve helium.

2. Biological microtome
Cryostat are used in medicine to cut histological slides. They are usually used in a process called frozen section histology (see Frozen section procedure). The cryostat is essentially an ultrafine "deli-slicer", called a microtome, placed in a freezer. The cryostat is usually a stationary upright freezer, with an external wheel for rotating the microtome. The temperature can be varied, depending on the tissue being cut - usually from minus 20 to minus 30 degree Celsius. The freezer is either powered by electricity, or by a refrigerant like liquid nitrogen. Small portable cryostats are available and can run off generators or vehicle inverters.

2. Cryostats for outer space research

Outer space flight conditions (weightlessness , variable acceleration , high dynamic load etc.) prohibit the use of ordinary cryostats. cryostats designed for space-craft has special features. 1.Mounting a device to hinder liquid cryoagent ejection from the working volume to the outlet mouth of cryostat under condition of weightlessness and variable acceleration. such devices are called phase seperators. 2. Making an outlet mouth design so as to eliminate heat supply to the liquid cryogent due to vapour convection. 3.Setting the regulator to maintain the pressure automatically above the liquid cryoagent accompanied by vapour cryoagent exhaust into outer space. 4.Sufficient strength to endure all overloads and vibration.

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