Methods and apparatus for detection of air ingress into cryogen vessels
AssigneeSiemens Aktiengesellschaft
InventorPatrick William Retz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In an apparatus and a method for detecting deposition of solid frost caused by air ingress into a cryogen vessel, a quartz crystal microbalance, that includes a crystal sensor, is placed within the cryogen vessel, and an actuating circuit actuates resonance of the crystal sensor, and detection equipment detects a change in the resonant characteristics of the crystal sensor caused by frost deposition on the crystal sensor, and signaling equipment indicates the detected change.
Claims11
A cryostat comprising:
- a cryogen vessel;
- a quartz crystal microbalance comprising a quartz sensor placed within said cryogen vessel, and an actuating circuit that actuates resonance of the crystal sensor;
- detection equipment that detects a change in resonant characteristics of said quartz sensor caused by deposition of solid frost on said crystal sensor;
- and
- signaling equipment that indicates the detected change.
A method for detecting deposition of a solid frost of nitrogen caused by air ingress into a cryogen vessel, comprising:
- providing a quartz crystal microbalance, comprising a crystal sensor placed within the cryogen vessel;
- detecting a change in resonant characteristics of the crystal sensor caused by deposition of said frost on the crystal sensor;
- and
- indicating the detected change.
A cryostat comprising:
- a cryogen vessel;
- a quartz crystal microbalance comprising a quartz sensor faced within said cryogen vessel, and an actuating circuit that actuates resonance of the quartz sensor;
- detection equipment that detects a change in resonant characteristics of said quartz sensor caused by a change in at least one of density and viscosity of gas in said cryogen vessel;
- and
- signaling equipment that indicates the detected change.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.