Compact Neon Recovery, Purification, and Liquefaction System

Neon is a rare, non-renewable resource with unique cryogenic cooling properties. These properties are essential for the remote characterization of infrared detectors. Due to recent foreign conflicts and increased neon demand from the semiconductor industry, however, the price of liquid neon has risen dramatically. In addition, there exists only one domestic supplier of LNe, making it increasingly difficult to obtain a reliable supply of cryogenic neon for focal plan array characterization. In this phase I effort, GTL seeks to design a compact small-scale neon recovery, purification, and reliquification system that will dramatically reduce the cost of infrared focal plane array characterization. GTL has experience with developing small-scale liquefaction systems for LH2. Leveraging this experience and employing inhouse design optimization software, GTL will design a low-cost reliquefication system that is tailored for both infrared detector research and semiconductor fabrication applications. The system’s design will include novel neon purification solutions that enable a portable and compact form-factor that is well-suited for applications requiring a small footprint. Additional design enhancements offer minimal downtime operations to ensure aggressive research timelines can be met.