| In 1974, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) contracted Barber-Nichols Inc. (BNI) to design and produce a cryogenic liquid helium pump for laboratory use. This cryogenic pump's performance exceeded NIST's expectations and BNI's entrance into the cryogenic industry began. Since that time, BNI developed turbomachinery for a myriad of cryogenic applications at temperatures down to 2.6 K. Barber-Nichols' reputation as an international manufacturer of custom cryogenic circulators, compressors and pumps flourished. BNI incorporates both hermetic and low heat leak features into many of its cryogenic pumps which are typically crucial in such applications.
BNI supplied cryogenic pumps for circulating helium for cooling magnets in superconductors, sub-cooled nitrogen in cables for high temperature superconductors, nitrogen for cooling crystals in synchrotron beamlines, argon for use in detectors on superconductors, hydrogen in rocket propellant densification systems, etc. BNI also produced pumps to transfer liquid oxygen in high flow rates to rockets prior to launch and Liquefied Nitrogen Gas (LNG) for filling trucks. This wide range of applications fostered the development of several types of cryogenic pumps to meet often strict requirements such as long shaft, vacuum housing, submersible and in-line. In addition to designing and producing cryogenic pumps for helium, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen, BNI also designed and built pumps for argon, methane, krypton, LNG, neon and xenon. In some applications with fluids that must be kept ultra clean, magnetic couplings are used to isolate the cryogen from the motor and its bearings. BNI designed and built pumps for argon and krypton for CERN and also built one for LOX in use on a laser system. Contact us for your cryogenic pump application. BNI has more than a hundred existing models and is always interested in designing and building custom pumps specifically for your application. Below are more in-depth pages covering the most common cryogenic fluids: Liquid Helium (LHe) Pumps |
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