I had some very interesting discussions with several member of the
group. I thanked them all directly but will list them here. Sorry for
any omissions due to my lack of organization.
Thanks, Weiguo, Bennett, Bob, Ryan, Stu, Marc Jeff, Nalinda, Dean,
Sebastian, André, Martha, Robert and Greg.
Summary of Responses.
I got over a dozen responses for my posting to the group. They can be
grouped into four categories (almost equally):
1) A couple of AMMRLers told me that someone else has remote labs
attached to a central recovery system. Unfortunately the people at
these locations either are not on AMMRL or did not respond to my
inquiry.
2) I got a good description from a few of AMMRLers at locations that
have piping to remote labs from their recovery system. These included
one site that collects gas into a bag and activity pumps the gas through
piping several blocks to the recovery system in another building. A
second facility passively piped their gas about 200 meters to another
building. There was no consensus on the materials used for this piping.
3) There were a few people that considered piping their remote
labs/buildings and either were told it was too expensive by their
University's Facility group or came to the conclusion that is
was not economically feasible.
4) There are quite a few places that collect gas at one location and
transports it in high pressure cylinders to the remote recovery system.
The main issue with transporting the high pressure gas cylinders (and
also the liquid dewars) is that regulations restrict who can do this
legally. In the US, the Department of Transportation requires
certification to move such items across "roadways." There are similar
restrictions in other countries.
There is some interpretation about what constitutes a roadway, but I am
sure most institutions have Health and Safety offices that will probably
be exceeding restrictive to people pushing cylinders across the
sidewalks. One option to this problem is to hire a specialty gas
provider to more the cylinders and dewars. The one data point I have
indicates that this runs close to $100 per move. Our Heath and Safety
group here has the certification necessary to move the helium but I am
currently waiting on feedback from them on whether they are willing or
able to perform this service.
=======
Original posting:
Hello Group,
I am looking for input from labs that have set up recovery systems that
include at least one "remote" location outside the building that houses
the gas/liquid collection. Like most labs my Facility has a desire to
start Helium recovery. However, for labs with a small number of low field
instruments this becomes a difficult fit since the capacity of most recovery
systems are more than ten times the amount of helium that runs through a few
lower field magnets. (Maybe) Luckily for us a researcher in our Physics
Department has a Quantum Design system that would be able to handle the
increased load our 4 instruments would add. Unfortunately, they are a city
block (~250 meter path of piping) away, so connecting to the system (if possible)
will be an expensive project. However, it probably will be cheaper than
duplicating the equipment that is already on campus, not to mention the
combined maintenance costs.
So I am looking for locations that have been successful (or not)
connecting a remote location to a recovery system. Information
including the choice of materials, managing and testing for leaks, major
pitfalls, and any other advice would be welcome. As an alternative to
piping our gas output to the system, would gas collection at our
location and transportation of high pressure cylinders make more sense?
Are there any places taking this approach?
Thanks,
Perry.
--
Perry J. Pellechia
Director of NMR Services
Research Professor
University of South Carolina
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
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Received on Tue Apr 05 2022 - 04:51:30 MST