Helium liquefier is a special core equipment that continuously converts normal temperature gaseous helium into 4.2K ultra-low temperature liquid helium. In the global shortage of helium resources, liquid helium procurement costs continue to rise, independent, high-efficiency helium liquefaction system, widely used in scientific research institutions, medical institutions and high-end manufacturing enterprises.
The helium liquefier is a dedicated cryogenic refrigeration system based on the Claude Cycle or the Collins Modified Process (Collins Cycle). It can continuously cool the normal temperature gaseous helium to 4.2K(-269 ℃) through multi-stage compression, heat exchange, expansion and refrigeration, and complete the phase change from gaseous to liquid under normal pressure to produce high-purity liquid helium.
Different from ordinary industrial refrigeration equipment, helium liquefier is customized for the special thermodynamic characteristics of helium, with multiple functions such as ultra-low temperature refrigeration, gas purification, helium recovery and recycling. The whole set of equipment can be fully automatic continuous operation, suitable for laboratory small batch liquid production and industrial large-scale mass production of liquid helium different scenarios.
Helium is the lowest boiling point of all chemical elements, even if it is infinitely close to absolute zero at atmospheric pressure, it will not spontaneously solidify and always remain liquid. This unique physical properties, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen and other low temperature media can not match.
The conventional liquid nitrogen refrigeration temperature is only 77K, and the liquid hydrogen refrigeration temperature is 20K, which can not meet the ultra-low temperature environment required by superconducting equipment and quantum experiments. Only liquid helium can provide the extreme low temperature of 4.2K and below, ensuring the zero resistance operation of superconducting magnets and the stable presentation of low-temperature quantum effects.
Therefore, the helium liquefier is not only a simple gas liquefaction equipment, but also a core infrastructure in the field of high-end low-temperature scientific research, medical superconductivity, and cutting-edge intelligent manufacturing.
Among all the commonly used industrial gases, helium is the most difficult gas to liquefy, and it is also one of the “permanent gases” that human beings finally conquered. It was not until 1908 that physicist Caroline Onnes succeeded in liquefying helium for the first time. The core reason for the difficulty of helium liquefaction is concentrated in the two dimensions of physical structure and thermodynamic properties.
At atmospheric pressure, the liquefaction temperature of ordinary helium -4 isotope is only 4.2K, and the critical temperature is as low as 5.2K. The critical temperature represents the highest temperature at which the gas can be liquefied. Once the ambient temperature is higher than this value, the gas cannot be liquefied no matter how much pressure is applied. This means that helium must be cooled to extreme low temperature in advance in order to rely on expansion and throttling processes to complete liquefaction, and conventional refrigeration processes cannot be adapted at all.
There is almost no mutual adsorption of helium molecules, and has a significant quantum zero point energy effect. Even in the absolute zero environment, the molecules still maintain the state of motion, under normal pressure can not be solidified, greatly raising the technical threshold of liquefaction.
The Joule-Thomson inversion temperature of helium is only 40-45K. This is the core technical bottleneck: when the gas temperature is higher than the reversal temperature, the throttling expansion will not only not cool down, but will produce a warming effect. Helium must be pre-cooled by liquid nitrogen and multi-stage cooling by turbine expander in advance to reduce the temperature below 40K in order to achieve effective refrigeration liquefaction by throttling.
Commercial helium liquefiers are based on automatic continuous operation mode, the core relies on the Claude cycle and Collins improved process, with liquid nitrogen pre-cooling system to improve cooling efficiency. The entire liquefaction process can be divided into four core steps, with clear logic and closed-loop operation.
The normal temperature and low pressure helium first enters the screw compressor and is pressurized to the best working pressure of 10-20bar. During the compression process, the lubricating oil will accompany the gas flow, and the oil will freeze and block the pipeline and equipment in the low temperature environment, so the oil removal is the core key process.
The compressed helium will go through a multi-stage coalescer and adsorption device to complete the deep degreasing treatment, control the residual oil within 10ppb, and completely avoid the risk of low-temperature blockage and equipment damage.
High-pressure pure helium enters the vacuum insulation cold box, and the initial cooling is completed through the plate-fin countercurrent heat exchanger. The system is equipped with a liquid nitrogen storage tank, and the helium temperature is quickly reduced to about 80K by using liquid nitrogen, which greatly reduces the workload of the subsequent low-temperature refrigeration module.
The countercurrent heat exchange structure can use the cold energy of low-temperature reflux helium to pre-cool the new high-pressure gas, realize the recovery and reuse of cold energy, effectively improve the refrigeration efficiency of the whole machine and reduce energy consumption.
Most of the pre-cooled helium is diverted into the multi-stage gas bearing turbine expander, and the temperature is rapidly cooled by external work. This step is the main source of cold energy for the system and can continuously reduce the temperature of helium from 80K to about 12K.
The isothermal efficiency of modern turbo expander can reach 70%-80%, with stable operation and low loss, which is the core component to ensure the high-yield and efficient operation of helium liquefier.
The ultra-low temperature and high pressure helium gas after multi-stage cooling is finally expanded through the Joule-Thomson throttle valve. At this time, the temperature of the helium gas dropped to 4.2K to achieve gas-liquid two-phase separation.
The liquefied pure liquid helium will be stored in a special dewar tank, and the unliquefied low-temperature helium vapor will be returned to the heat exchanger, and the cold energy will be recovered and re-entered into the cycle to realize continuous and uninterrupted liquefaction production.
A complete set of industrial-grade and laboratory-grade helium liquefaction system is not a single device, but an integrated system composed of refrigeration, purification, storage, recovery and control 5 modules. All components work together to ensure stable operation.
The core unit is the core carrier of the production liquid, including helium compressor, 4.5K cryogenic cold box, turbo expander, JT throttle valve and liquid helium Dewar tank. The low-temperature cold box adopts high vacuum multi-layer insulation design to minimize environmental heat leakage and maintain an internal ultra-low temperature environment. The liquid helium dewar tank is responsible for the closed storage of finished liquid helium to reduce volatilization loss.
Including multi-stage oil removal system, impurity helium online dryer, low temperature adsorption device. It can effectively filter moisture, air, oil, neon and other impurities in helium, avoid low-temperature freezing of impurities from blocking pipelines, ensure the purity of intake air ≥ 99.999, and stabilize the production capacity and operating life of equipment.
The unit mainly focuses on helium recycling, including recovery compressor, helium buffer tank, liquid nitrogen storage tank, impurity helium cylinder group, recovery gas bag and coaxial transmission pipeline. The waste helium volatilized from the equipment and emptied from the experiment can be collected, purified and re-put into the liquefaction cycle, greatly reducing the procurement cost of helium.
The automatic electrical control cabinet is the “brain” of the equipment, which supports the whole process of automatic start and stop, real-time control of temperature and pressure, and adaptive load adjustment. At the same time, it has the functions of fault alarm, remote diagnosis and data recording, so it does not need to be continuously on duty and is suitable for long-term stable operation.
Helium liquefier capacity span is very large, from small laboratory equipment to large industrial production units, capacity, energy consumption, applicable scenarios significantly different. At the same time, liquid nitrogen pre-cooling can directly double the liquid production capacity of the equipment, which is the core configuration to improve efficiency.
Standard helium liquefier: No pre-cooling capacity 15-150L/h, with liquid nitrogen pre-cooling up to 30-330L/h. Adapted to university research centers, small and medium-sized research institutes, is currently the most widely used mainstream models.
Medium and large industrial helium liquefier: No pre-cooling up to 150L/h, liquid nitrogen pre-cooling conditions up to 300-800L/h. Suitable for large scientific research platforms and regional liquid helium supply sites.
Custom industrial helium liquefier: The production capacity can reach more than 350-3500L/h, and the daily average production of 20 tons can be realized. It mainly serves gas production enterprises, national large-scale scientific research projects and aerospace core laboratories.
| Helium Liquefier Series | Liquefaction Rate L/h | Compressor Rating kW |
| FHL-40 | 40-70 | 79-90 |
| FHL-70 | 70-100 | 90-132 |
| FHL-100 | 100-140 | 132-160 |
| FHL-140 | 140-180 | 160-200 |
| FHL-180 | 180-240 | 200-250 |
| FHL-240 | 240-280 | 250-315 |
| FHL-280 | 280-310 | 315-355 |
| Customized products | ≥ 300 |
The liquid production, stability, energy consumption and service life of the helium liquefier are affected by multiple operating conditions and equipment parameters. Accurate control of the core influencing factors can effectively improve the efficiency of equipment operation, reduce the failure rate, and extend the operation and maintenance cycle.
Helium purity is the primary factor affecting the performance of the equipment. Impurities such as oxygen, nitrogen, moisture, and oil in the air will condense and freeze in the ultra-low temperature environment and adhere to the heat exchanger, expander, and throttle valve.
Long-term ice accumulation will increase the pressure drop of the pipeline, reduce the heat exchange efficiency and block the flow channel, which will directly lead to the decrease of production capacity and cause the equipment to be shut down for maintenance in serious cases. In industrial operation, it is necessary to ensure that the purity of the feed helium is ≥ 99.999, and the online purification system is used to remove impurities in real time.
The optimal working pressure range of the helium liquefier is 8-15bar. Reasonable pressure can improve the expansion ratio of the expander and the throttle valve, enhance the refrigeration effect, and improve the liquid helium output. If the pressure is too low, it will lead to insufficient refrigeration capacity and capacity attenuation; if the pressure is too high, it will greatly increase the energy consumption of the compressor, aggravate the wear and tear of the equipment, and the cost performance is greatly reduced. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain the operation of the optimal pressure range.
The refrigeration upper limit of the liquid nitrogen pre-cooling system directly determines the basic refrigeration efficiency of the equipment. Adequate 80K pre-cooling can greatly reduce the load of the low-temperature refrigeration module, which is the basis of high efficiency and high yield.
The heat transfer efficiency of plate-fin countercurrent heat exchanger is very important, and the heat transfer efficiency of high-quality equipment can reach 95%-98%. The higher the heat exchange efficiency, the more sufficient the cold recovery, the less the energy loss, and the more stable the overall performance of the equipment.
The expander is the main source of the system cooling capacity, and its isothermal efficiency directly determines the refrigeration capacity of the whole machine. Modern high-quality gas bearing turbine expander, the efficiency can reach 70%-80%.
The higher the efficiency of the expander, the more cold output per unit of gas, the greater the liquid production and the lower the energy consumption. At the same time, the split ratio of the compressor air flow between the expander and the throttle valve will also directly affect the operating efficiency of the whole machine.
Ultra-low temperature liquid helium system is extremely sensitive to heat leakage, small external heat infiltration, will cause cold loss, liquid helium volatilization, production capacity decline. Vacuum insulation cold box through multi-layer insulation structure, low residual air pressure design, maximum isolation of environmental heat. Low-temperature liquid helium cold box seal failure, vacuum degree drop, insulation layer aging, will greatly increase the operation of energy consumption, reduce equipment stability, is the key inspection items of daily operation and maintenance.
For the system with recovery function, the working state of recovery gas bag, recovery compressor and purification device directly affects the effective feed amount. The high-efficiency recovery system can capture more than 90% of the volatile helium and recycle it.
If the recovery efficiency is low and there are too many impurities in the recovered gas, the purification load will be increased, the overall liquid production efficiency will be reduced, and the long-term operating cost will be increased.
Relying on the advantage of 4.2K extreme low temperature, the liquid helium produced by the helium liquefier is a high-end medical, cutting-edge scientific research, quantum technology, aerospace and other fields of just-needed media, covering a number of high-precision industry scenarios.
Helium liquefier for medical imaging
The core of the hospital’s nuclear magnetic resonance equipment is a superconducting magnet, which requires liquid helium to maintain an ultra-low temperature and zero resistance state to generate a stable strong magnetic field (1.5T-7T). Once the liquid helium is insufficient and the magnet is lost, the equipment will not work properly.
Small and medium-sized medical helium liquefier can recover the volatilized helium from MRI equipment on site, re-liquefy and utilize it, greatly reducing the cost of outsourcing liquid helium and ensuring the stable operation of the equipment for 24 hours.
The low temperature physics, condensed matter physics, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Mossbauer spectroscopy and other experiments of universities and research institutes all need liquid helium to create ultra-low temperature experimental environment. Small helium liquefier for low-temperature scientific research experiments, can achieve liquid helium self-sufficiency, to avoid the shortage of liquid helium procurement, price fluctuations, to ensure the continuous progress of scientific research experiments.
Large particle accelerators, colliders (such as the European LHC collider), ITER nuclear fusion devices, and tokamak plasma confinement equipment all rely on large-scale liquid helium refrigeration systems to cool superconducting magnets and RF cavities.
The industrial-grade helium liquefaction system is used for nuclear fusion research to continuously supply large quantities of liquid helium and maintain long-term continuous operation of the equipment.
The quantum bits of a superconducting quantum computer need to work in a milkelvin very low temperature environment. The dilution refrigerator is the core refrigeration component of the quantum device, and the helium liquefier can provide pre-cooling for the superconducting, which is the basic supporting equipment of the quantum computing platform. At the same time, the development and testing of superconducting electronic devices, cryogenic sensors, and precision detectors are also inseparable from the ultra-low temperature environment support of liquid helium.
Performance testing of high-end semiconductor superconducting devices and low-temperature electronic components requires ultra-low temperature environment to verify product stability. In the aerospace field, the liquid helium cryogenic system is used to simulate the space vacuum cryogenic environment and test the low temperature resistance of satellites and spacecraft components. In addition, the cryogenic refrigeration of infrared detectors and deep space exploration equipment of astronomical telescopes also relies on the continuous cooling of the helium liquefaction system.
The industry often confuses helium liquefier with helium refrigerator, the core structure of the two is similar, both use Claude cycle, but the design positioning, operation mode, application scenario is very different, users need to accurately select according to the needs.
The core goal of the helium liquefier is output of liquid helium product the normal temperature gaseous helium is converted into liquid helium that can be stored and transported, and the produced liquid helium will be separated from the equipment system for external use, which is a liquid-producing equipment.
The core goal of the helium refrigerator is continuous output of low temperature cold there is no liquid helium output, helium always circulates in the closed loop of the equipment, and only cools external equipment through heat absorption and cooling, which belongs to helium refrigeration equipment.
In scenarios where liquid helium needs to be stored, liquid helium is used offline, and liquid helium is mass produced, a helium liquefier is preferred. It only needs to provide uninterrupted refrigeration for superconducting magnets and cryogenic cavities, without the need to produce liquid helium, and is suitable for helium refrigerators.
Helium liquefier is a high-precision low-temperature equipment, oil, impurities, vacuum failure, component aging will lead to performance degradation, failure to stop. Standardized daily operation and maintenance is the core of ensuring efficient, stable and long-life operation of equipment.
Screw compressor is the core power component and the main source of oil pollution. Regularly check the oil level and oil quality, and replace the lubricating oil on time.
The normal temperature dryer and 80K/20K low temperature adsorber shall be periodically regenerated or replaced according to the intake impurity load. When there are more impurities in the recovered helium, the regeneration cycle needs to be shortened.
Regularly detect the vacuum degree of the cold box, maintain a high vacuum insulation environment, and reduce heat leakage. The vacuum unit shall be regularly maintained to check the leakage of the vacuum interlayer.
Modern gas bearing turboexpanders have low mechanical failure rate and do not need frequent disassembly and maintenance, but they need to regularly detect vibration, bearing status and operating efficiency, and timely check performance attenuation problems. Regularly check and calibrate high-pressure pipelines, low-temperature valves and JT throttle valves to check internal and external leakage hazards to ensure stable airflow and accurate pressure.
Regularly maintain and recover the compressor, flexible air bag and buffer storage tank, and check the problems of air leakage and abnormal pressure. Timely discharge the accumulated water in the pipeline and regenerate the drying device to ensure the purity of the recovered helium. A stable helium recovery system maximizes helium recycling and significantly reduces long-term operating costs.
With the global shortage of helium resources and the outbreak of high-end cryogenic industry demand, helium liquefaction technology is rapidly iterating in the direction of high efficiency, energy saving, pollution-free, modular, intelligent and closed-loop cycle.
By optimizing the efficiency of the turbine expander, upgrading the high-efficiency heat exchanger, and optimizing the airflow split ratio, the energy consumption per unit of liquid helium is continuously reduced. The target energy consumption of large mass production units has been reduced to 0.5kWh/L, and the energy saving effect is remarkable.
At the same time, the research and development of distributed gradient refrigeration and new helium isotope refrigeration technology will further break through the energy efficiency bottleneck of the traditional Claude cycle.
The new helium liquefier adopts the modular design of factory prefabrication, which is convenient to install on site and has strong adaptability. At the same time, it is equipped with remote monitoring, intelligent diagnosis and adaptive load adjustment system, which can realize unattended operation and automatic fault warning.
The equipment can flexibly switch liquefaction, refrigeration and mixed operation modes to meet the diversified needs of multiple scenes.
For quantum computing, high-end semiconductors, deep space exploration and other emerging areas, the industry will launch customized small high-precision liquefaction equipment and ultra-large industrial mass production units. At the same time, combined with LNG exhaust helium recovery technology, enhance the global helium resource supply toughness.
The liquefaction temperature of conventional helium -4 at atmospheric pressure is 4.2K(-269 ℃), and the critical temperature is 5.2K. Rare helium -3 isotope liquefaction temperature is lower, only 3.2K. Under normal pressure, helium will not solidify even if it is close to absolute zero, and it can be solidified only under high pressure environment above 25bar.
The price of liquid helium fluctuates greatly due to the influence of origin, purity, purchase volume and supply chain. In 2026, the price of gaseous helium in North America and Europe is about 40-50 US dollars per thousand cubic feet, and the price in Northeast Asia is on the high side, reaching more than 100 US dollars.
Liquid helium contains liquefaction, storage and transportation, anti-volatilization costs, the unit price is much higher than gaseous helium, laboratory small batch procurement costs are very high, long-term use of self-built helium liquefaction equipment cost-effective.
The United States is the world’s largest helium producer, accounting for 40%-43% of global production capacity in 2025. Qatar is the second largest producer, accounting for 30%-33% of production capacity, mainly relying on LNG supporting helium extraction projects. Russia, Algeria, Canada and China are secondary capacity exporters.
Ultra-low temperature of liquid helium can cause severe low temperature frostbite, instantly freezing human skin and tissue, causing irreversible damage. At the same time, the rapid vaporization of liquid helium will replace a large amount of oxygen in the confined space, causing the risk of suffocation.
When operating liquid helium and low temperature equipment, special labor protection articles such as heat insulation gloves and protective mask must be worn, and direct contact with low temperature components is strictly prohibited.
Liquid helium must be stored in a special dewar tank with high vacuum multi-layer insulation or ISO cryogenic storage tank. The tank body is equipped with a pressure relief valve and an explosion-proof disc to avoid closed pressure-holding explosion. At normal temperature, liquid helium will volatilize slowly. The storage space needs to be ventilated and equipped with oxygen monitoring equipment. Volatile helium can be recovered and liquefied to reduce waste of resources.
At present, the world is in a state of structural helium shortage, the U.S. federal helium reserve continues to shrink, Qatar’s core capacity facilities overhaul, the global high-end cryogenic industry demand surge, multiple factors leading to supply and demand imbalance. Therefore, the self-built helium liquefaction and recovery system has become the core solution for scientific research and medical institutions to avoid supply chain risks.
Helium liquefier is the core cryogenic equipment supporting modern cryogenic physics, medical superconductivity, quantum computing, aerospace and other high-end fields. Relying on the exclusive Claude/Collins cycle process, it overcomes the technical problem that helium is extremely difficult to liquefy and can stably produce 4.2K ultra-low temperature liquid helium. Fullcryo provide different specifications of helium liquefier, can be fully adapted to the laboratory small-scale self-use, industrial mass production and other scenarios, reduce the cost of enterprise research, production of helium.
