Playing it cool

President of Taylor-Wharton Cryogenics LLC Len York says that in general, the outlook for the cryogenic delivery equipment business is improving. “Major gas companies throughout the world continue to invest in capital equipment,” York says. “The world economies are getting stronger and demanding cryogenic products for industrial applications, electronics, healthcare, chemicals and energy.”

Industrial gas sales increased in 2010 over 2009, an upward trend Taylor-Wharton believes will continue. Asia, Middle East, Africa and South America have shown significant growth rates, with emerging economies increasing their demand for cryogenic products. As new air separation plants come on line the need for cryogenic delivery systems will grow. Another key driver is the aging population boosting demand in the healthcare business. Taylor-Wharton’s products - bulk tanks, liquid cylinders, micro bulk, and cryo-bio equipment have seen increased demand in all regions.

Mode change boosts cryogenic sector
In addition to overall economic growth, the continued shift toward the use of liquid as a mode change from gas cylinders to liquid cryogenic containers will be an added driver boosting the cryogenic side of the business, York explains.

“Liquid gas storage allows for on-site storage without frequent change out of cylinders,” York says. “Supply tends to be more reliable for the end user, and for the gas companies distribution costs are lower as they are able to install larger capacity storage on-site.”

For example, HP cylinder fleets are enormous in Europe and global gas customers have invested millions in these assets. “We see our customers in Europe now moving more towards the liquid micro bulk storage product, as a way of being a more cost effective supplier following the lead of North America over the past decade.” Gas cylinders will always be needed but the growing trend is moving towards intermediate capacity cryogenic storage products.

The cryogenic delivery needs of specialty gas and medical gas users are similar to those of all cryogenic customers in general terms. They are centered on safety, quality, reliability and product availability.

“Ultimately, how well we assist our customer in providing a solution to the end user (their customer) determines our success,” York says. “Customers look to us to help them solve the needs of their customers with an appropriate range of products that provide capacities and pressures to address their specific application.”

Superior performance characteristics such as consistent flow rates, low normal evaporation rates (NER) and controls/components that are reliable and easy to use while requiring low maintenance are key.

Safety
T-W believes that starting with superior engineering designs and building to those designs with a focus on quality and reliability in every step of the process produces safe products. The company’s manufacturing process emphasizes maintaining cleanliness, material control and traceability, which are critically important for food, medical and many specialty gas applications.
Additionally, a manufacturer needs to understand the varying skills of the end user when it comes to using its products. Controls and components must be low maintenance and easy to use to enhance the product’s safety profile.

Reliability
Reliability is a high priority for specialty and medical customers in particular. Hospitals and labs will have little tolerance for cryogenic equipment failures when the costs of delaying or losing their research are so high. For hospitals Taylor-Wharton offers small back-up tanks - hospital reserve tanks that are “manifolded” to the primary bulk tanks to help prevent run out when bulk tank levels are low. The company adds safeguards such as low-level liquid alarms on the primary bulk tanks to alert personnel when liquid cryogenic products are low.

“T-W achieves quality through our continuing tradition of superior cryogenic engineering design,” York says. One example is the company’s dry shippers which are used for transporting biological samples worldwide. The unique design includes “socks” in the inner container. These hold the liquid N2, preventing run-out if the shipper is tipped.

Loosing liquid N2 in this way is not necessarily a sign of a poor quality product - but having a product engineered to solve for a potential problem such as this is certainly the sign of a superior product design.

T-W also supports the medical research markets with CryoScience by Taylor-WhartonTM freezers and larger aluminum Dewars, available with controllers that send alarms by texting, e-mailing, and calling designated personnel when product (liquid N2) reaches low levels.

Again, in many cases the samples stored in customer’s freezers represent years of research and are often irreplaceable. “We also can manifold freezers together and connect to T-W primary products such as a bulk tank, a micro bulk tank or a liquid cylinder that automatically fills the low level freezers and then tops-off the other freezers to ensure there is always product,” York says.
Beyond bulk, microbulk and liquid cylinder offerings, T-W’s current strength lies in the medical market. The CryoScience product line includes freezers (both vapor and liquid storage), Dewars and refrigerators with broad applications in the medical and biological fields including hospitals, research and medical labs, blood bank, stem cell and cord blood storage facilities and in artificial insemination. The company’s products are manufactured in a newly built facility designed for manufacturing in a clean and temperature controlled environment, which lends itself to higher quality and performance.

Specific recent technological product enhancements
Taylor-Wharton has recently redesigned its LABS Freezers range. Upgrades include increased storage capacities for LABS freezers (LABS 94) holding samples, and intuitive controllers that are interactive with others controllers and easy for downloading information. LABS are designed to maintain low temperatures at lid openings - leading to better LN2 utilization.

Key factors for product quality and thermal performance:

• High level of vacuum
• Multi-layered super insulation
• Low NER values
• Holding times - appropriate to their applications - this could be several weeks to 100 plus days.
• Piping should be a convenient design, with high quality components, SS valves, welded instead of screwed connections, SS pressure gauges and level gauges.
• Full complement of spares and accessories to supply in the aftermarket for service and support
• Ability to provide medical and food grade quality products with an emphasis on purity.
• T-W traces its roots back to 1742.

www.taylorwharton.com