[3dem] Dry Nitrogen source for TFS Aquilos2

[Martin Warmer]

Dear Christine,

We are in a very similar situation to what you are describing: Large outside LN2 tank with evaporator, a lot of branched tubing going through the building where one outlet feeds our Aquilos 2+ with a SubAngstrom Long Operation Upgrade (big LN2 tank for the heat exchanger) . We had quite some problems at the beginning and suspected the building infrastructure and outside tank first. Depending on ambient humidity sometimes 24h of operation only before clogging of the lines was limiting flow and finally rising temperature.
What improved our situation at the end was to

* Remove all unnecessary fittings, minimize tubing length
* Substitute push-in fittings (Festo, SMC) with compression fittings (Swagelok)
* Substitute PU tubing with PTFE tubing

Currently we can have the FIB cold for about five days, the dew point of the nitrogen gas after the Aquilos' flow regulator is around -90°C (Easidew Online Hygrometer installed). At least in our case the outside tank and the metal-only tubing system of the building (soldered or compression fittings) could provide a sufficiently dry gas stream. What I cannot tell you at the end is if the improvement was due to a combined effect of all the components removed/exchanged or if there were one or two bad connections. Standard leak testing did not show any problem and measurements with the hygrometer are reliable, but equilibration times can be really long - too long to check all the components separately.

Cheers,
Martin


-----Original Message-----
From: 3dem <3dem-bounces at ncmir.ucsd.edu> On Behalf Of Christiane Riedel via 3dem
Sent: Tuesday, 5 May 2026 14:28
To: 3dem at ncmir.ucsd.edu
Subject: [3dem] Dry nitrogen source for TFS Aquilos2

Dear all,
We are currently planning the installation of a TFS Aquilos2. As we are not sure to be able to access dry nitrogen from a large outside storage dewar, do some of you have experience in supplying the needed dry nitrogen with a large pressurised LN2 dewar (240l) or using bottles? Or any other suggestions? 😊
Thanks a lot for your input and help!
Best
Christiane

Prof C Riedel
ENS de Lyon
France

Christiane.riedel at ens-lyon.fr
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