Brookhaven Lab Awards $7.8-Million Refrigeration Contract

High-tech system will serve new light source

UPTON, NY — The U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory has awarded a $7.8-million contract to Linde Cryogenics, who will work with two other companies to provide a helium refrigerator for the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II).

National Synchrotron Light Source II under construction. enlarge

National Synchrotron Light Source II under construction.

Now under construction, NSLS-II will be one of the world’s most advanced light sources, providing sophisticated new tools for cutting-edge science.

Linde Cryogenics in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Linde Kryoteknic in Pfungen, Switzerland; and PHPK Technologies in Ohio will work in partnership to deliver a turnkey 850-watt refrigeration system using helium as the refrigerant. The refrigerator will cool superconducting radio-frequency cavities in NSLS-II to minus 451 degrees Fahrenheit (a household refrigerator cools to around 40 ºF). Using these superconducting cavities will save about 3 million watt-hours of electricity every year. (More information.)

Brookhaven Lab’s contract with Linde Kryoteknic, Linde Cryogenics and PHPK Technologies covers detailed design, process control, production, installation and commissioning.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by the Research Foundation of State University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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