Is there a tougher environment for a cryocooler than in the heat, vibration, and chemicals of an operating oil refinery? How about one in a tropical zone, using 38°C cooling water as the heat-rejection fluid? That's just one place that Qdrive coolers are serving. This month, the first in-line freeze-point analyzer for petroleum passed its first anniversary of continuous service in Shell Eastern Petroleum Company's Bukom refinery in Singapore. These analyzers are built by Orb Instruments of Chicago (www.orbinstruments.com) to monitor the Freeze Point property in the production of jet fuel.  This allows monitoring and adjustment of the process controls every fifteen minutes, instead of just a few times a day, saving the refinery big money by maximizing yield and minimizing post-refining re-blends. 

By powering their instrument with a Qdrive 2S102K cooler that rejects heat directly to the plant cooling water; Orb achieved a stand-alone fast-freezing unit that needs only electricity and data connections, operates in an enclosed, explosion-proof or purged cabinet design, and operates reliably in the 24/7 operation of a refinery.  Doug Korslund, President of Orb, said "Our freeze-point analyzer really extends our analytical instrument range for this critical market. Qdrive coolers make it possible and practical to measure freeze points of jet fuel at temperatures that traditional Peltier analyzers can not achieve, all without CFC's."

Do you have a tough deep-cooling application? Qdrive's acoustic-Stirling might be the quiet, reliable, and efficient answer for you, too. Call us! For more on these and other analyzers, contact Orb Instruments (www.orbinstruments.com).