Cryogenic Engineering: Is going to ICE the right move?

Clients are not just throwing money away at an endless maintenance headache, which will only haunt their budget year after year. No, when they come to Independence Cryogenic Engineering, hospitals and private practices are getting a dual return on their investment. The client sends in their cold heads for a combination of maintenance and upgrade, at a wildly less cost than rebuilding a direct drive system. ICE recognized the problem of direct drive rebuilds as being finicky, noisier, less reliable, and having shorter lifespan. By going to ICE, the client can stay well within their maintenance budget and enjoy the added investment of fewer costs and breakdown risks over time by rebuilding with a pneumatic core. Let’s take a moment to look at all these benefits and why they work.

Noise and Longevity

The most obvious advantage of an ICE Pneumatic core rebuild is the smooth and quiet operation. Simply click here to view video clips of pneumatic and direct drive systems, and you will notice how little noise the pneumatic system produces. The pneumatic system has no direct drive, so there is no direct mechanical connection. The pneumatic system is gas driven and thus avoids a drive shaft with a control valve.

A less obvious, but perhaps more significant benefit from ICE is the longevity of pneumatic systems, which are proven to last twice as long as direct drive units. There are fewer parts and less points of failure, namely, scotch, yoke, bearing, slide valve, etc.

Convenience

The benefit of convenience is often overlooked; since one often forgets menial and costly maintenance habits once they are unnecessary. Some of the tasks made unnecessary by ICE are: a need to ramp or shim magnet, change out motor shield, gas lines, motor cable or compressor. With Leybold, and Sumitomo systems, you need to change to a different motor shield since each have their own compatibility issues. With the ICE pneumatic system, the same footprint is used and thus eliminates any compatibility issues.

Furthermore, the pneumatic system weighs 15 lbs less and is easier to install. The mechanical drive, cumbersome motor, and other equipment have been siphoned for the unit out to be more efficient. This translates into the benefits of lower shipping costs every few years for maintenance and a much easier install process.

Lastly, the ICE pneumatic system also uses simply one part number for inventory instead of five different models. Different Balzer and Leybold direct drive systems typically have modifications and upgrades with .5T and 1.5T systems. With the ICE pneumatic system they got it right the first time without a ferrous drive system.

Protection

A system from ICE boasts greater protection from wear and breakdown. For instance, if the unit is gas contaminated, it is less prone to serious damage. Simply warm, purge, and reinstall. A gas contaminated direct drive unit may lock up, or freeze the displacer causing the yoke to bend and become misaligned. After maintenance, the unit may be noisier than a new direct drive. A pneumatic system has no direct connections and thus minimizes the risk of noisy bent components.

For additional protection, there is less heat in the compressor control module from powering a smaller motor. This, in turn, saves phase relays from melting. Phase detection relay is a safe guard to protect the compressor in case of a phase error; these phase relays are often mounted next to a resistor. The pneumatic system has a huge 50% drop off in temperature from direct drive units. A typical direct drive motor circuit resistor will operate close to 236 F; a pneumatic system will operate at about 110 F.

This cuts the chance of melting phase relays drastically, due to less current needed to power the motor. ICE pneumatic systems also now use a scroll compressor with pneumatic cold head, which is essentially the best of both worlds.

With new direct drive units costing at least $20,000 and often as high as $40,000, it would be a wise move to go with ICE to ensure longer life and reliability to your MRI cold head. You can contact them at: www.cryopumper.com