Note: An automatic liquid nitrogen refilling system for small (detector) Dewar vessels

E Deniz; K B Eberl; J Bredenbeck

doi:10.1063/1.5046637

Note: An automatic liquid nitrogen refilling system for small (detector) Dewar vessels

Rev Sci Instrum. 2018 Nov;89(11):116101. doi: 10.1063/1.5046637.

Authors

E Deniz¹, K B Eberl¹, J Bredenbeck¹

Affiliation

¹ Institute of Biophysics, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt am Main 60438, Germany.

PMID: 30501329
DOI: 10.1063/1.5046637

Abstract

Many infrared spectroscopy setups are in principle stable enough to run overnight or longer, but the detector's Dewar vessel must be refilled manually with liquid nitrogen (LN₂) every couple of hours. Commercial automatic LN₂ refilling systems work reliably only for large Dewars. Here, we present a refilling system which can non-invasively be applied to already installed small Dewars. The system reliably refills LN₂ once it has dropped below an adjustable level, with quick refilling (<3 min) for a 0.6 l Dewar. Our design protects the setup and the detector from overflowing or running without LN₂.