Liquid Helium Technology

Pure and Applied Cryogenics, Volume 6: Liquid Helium Technology focuses on the principles, techniques, methodologies, and approaches involved in liquid helium technology. The selection examines liquid helium technology at the National Bureau of Standards, properties of liquid helium, heat transfer to liquid helium, and noise associated with heat transfer to liquid helium II. Discussions focus on apparatus and instrumentation, test procedure, liquid helium as a cryogenic liquid, zero viscosity, momentum of heat flow, rotation and vortex lines, oscillation of vortex lines, and quantized vortices. The publication then takes a look at boiling heat transfer to liquid helium, heat transfer from metal to supercritical helium, heat transfer to boiling liquid helium in narrow vertical channels, and critical nucleate boiling of liquid helium in a simulated wire wound magnet. The text ponders on microdegree temperature controller for liquid helium II bath, commercial production, storage and distribution of liquid helium, lightweight liquid helium dewar, commercial handling of liquid helium dewars, effectiveness of low temperature refrigeration for electronics, and a bulk liquid helium distribution system. The selection is a valuable source of information for scientists and researchers interested in liquid helium technology.

Twenty five years have elapsed since the original publication of Helium Cryogenics. During this time, a considerable amount of research and development involving helium fluids has been carried out culminating in several large-scale projects. Furthermore, the field has matured through these efforts so that there is now a broad engineering base to assist the development of future projects. Helium Cryogenics, 2nd edition brings these advances in helium cryogenics together in an updated form. As in the original edition, the author's approach is to survey the field of cryogenics with emphasis on helium fluids. This approach is more specialized and fundamental than that contained in other cryogenics books, which treat the associated range of cryogenic fluids. As a result, the level of treatment is more advanced and assumes a certain knowledge of fundamental engineering and physics principles, including some quantum mechanics. The goal throughout the work is to bridge the gap between the physics and engineering aspects of helium fluids to provide a source for engineers and scientists to enhance their usefulness in low-temperature systems. Dr. Van Sciver is a Distinguished Research Professor and John H. Gorrie Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Florida State University. He is also a Program Director at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL). Dr. Van Sciver joined the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and the NHMFL in 1991, initiating and teaching a graduate program in magnet and materials engineering and in cryogenic thermal sciences and heat transfer. He also led the NHMFL development efforts of the cryogenic systems for the NHMFL Hybrid and 900 MHz NMR superconducting magnets. Between 1997 and 2003, he served as Director of Magnet Science and Technology at the NHMFL. Dr. Van Sciver is a Fellow of the ASME and the Cryogenic Society of America and American Editor for the journal Cryogenics. He is the 2010 recipient of the Kurt Mendelssohn Award. Prior to joining Florida State University, Dr. Van Sciver was Research Scientist and then Professor of Nuclear Engineering, Engineering Physics and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1976 to 1991. During that time he also served as the Associate Director of the Applied Superconductivity Center. Dr. Van Sciver received his PhD in Low Temperature Physics from the University of Washington-Seattle in 1976. He received his BS degree in Engineering Physics from Lehigh University in 1970. Dr. Van Sciver is author of over 200 publications and patents in low temperature physics, liquid helium technology, cryogenic engineering and magnet technology. The first edition of Helium Cryogenics was published by Plenum Press (1986). The present work is an update and expansion of that original project.

The Helium Privatization Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-273) directs the Department of the Interior to begin liquidating the U.S. Federal Helium Reserve by 2005 in a manner consistent with "minimum market disruption" and at a price given by a formula specified in the act. It also mandates that the Department of the Interior "enter into appropriate arrangements with the National Academy of Sciences to study and report on whether such disposal of helium reserves will have a substantial adverse effect on U.S. scientific, technical, biomedical, or national security interests." This report is the product of that mandate. To provide context, the committee has examined the helium market and the helium industry as a whole to determine how helium users would be affected under various scenarios for selling the reserve within the act's constraints. The Federal Helium Reserve, the Bush Dome reservoir, and the Cliffside facility are mentioned throughout this report. It is important to recognize that they are distinct entities. The Federal Helium Reserve is federally owned crude helium gas that currently resides in the Bush Dome reservoir. The Cliffside facility includes the storage facility on the Bush Dome reservoir and the associated buildings pipeline.