From: Rajan Paranji <paranji_at_chem.washington.edu>
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2006 14:25:13 -0800
Hello
Although I should be focusing my energy on the immediate things,
having visited the link provided by Jeff and some other links that I
googled related to He shortage, I could not help my train of thoughts
getting distracted by this issue and feeling a little depressed.
What happens to all the NMR and MRI systems when we near the day
when He is going to run out, as obtained from the conventional means
now ? I read one article, about 5 years old, that rumoured that the
Russians are planning to mine the moon for He gas, by 2020 and there
seems to be exist this (mis)/information that the supplies may last
only upto 2015. I heard my friend Bill come up with "scooping" the
He from solar winds in the outer atmosphere of mother earth and
transporting it down.
I was musing to myself, what are the potential ways the spectrometers
could be saved ?
* He recovery systems is an immediate possibility
* As I am writing this, got a call from Jason Jacob of Wyeth, who
mentioned about compressed He magnet systems that essentially recycle
the He boil off to keep the system going without the need for frequent
refills. Jason mentioned something like an year to 2 years fill cycle
on these. (I am feeling better already ) :)
* High Tc supercon magnets.
* Permanent super magnets and micro sample volumes ?
* Field cycling techniques ?
What can you come up with (however outlandish or out'planet'ish) ?
Cheers
Rajan
-- rajan_signature
_______________________________
Rajan K Paranji, Ph.D. NMR Facility Manager