Helium
In 1868 while observing the Sun chromosphere during a a total solar eclipse, astronomers discovered a new bright yellow stripe in the spectrum of the solar corona. It was the main characteristic of the newly discovered element, named helium after Greek Ήλιος–Helios for sun. Only 27 years later helium was discovered in minerals and Earth material containing uranium.
Military aeronautics saw first application of helium in 1915. German forces carried out aerial bombardments of London using helium-filled airships. Soon after, lightweight nonflammable helium came to supplant highly combustible hydrogen as an irreplaceable filler gas for civilian aircraft.
Lifting force of helium is 8% less than that of hydrogen. Thus helium leaks out much slower. More than 150 patrol airships were built in the US during the war. They stayed airborne longer irrespective of weather conditions and made do with but 5% of an airplane's fuel requirements.
Natural and oil gases serve as the basic sources for helium production, containing 0.2-2% of He. Helium concentration in ambient air is incomparably lower, just 0.00052%.
Iceblick, Ltd. is among the distinguished few companies worldwide performing high-purity helium extraction from ambient air. Our product is guaranteed to contain the absolute minimum of hydrocarbon impurities, < 0.1ppm.
Helium Application Areas:
- Aeronautics: lighter-than-air engineering
- Cryogenic Equipment: providing ultra-low temperatures and operating conditions for superconducting devices
- Various Technological Processes: shielding medium, gas analysis and leakage detection
- Healthcare, Scubadiving, and Aerospace: respiratory gas mixtures
- Radio-Electronics: STMs
- Laser Equipment
- Advertisement
Quality of Helium Produced by Iceblick, Ltd.
| Concentration, ppm | |||||
| Element | Formula | He 99.8% | He 99.99% | He 99.999% | He 99.9999% |
| Hydrogen | H2 | 0.06 | 25.0 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Neon | Ne | N/A | 90.0 | 5.0 | 0.1 |
| Nitrogen | N2 | 0.12 | 20.0 | 2.0 | 0.2 |
| Oxygen | O2 | 0.005 | 2.0 | 0.5 | N/A |
| Oxygen + Argon | O2 + Ar | N/A | N/A | N/A | 0.1 |
| Argon | Ar | 0.002 | 1.0 | 0.1 | N/A |
| Carbon Oxides | CO+CO2 | N/A | 10.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Hydrocarbons | CnHm | N/A | 5.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Humidity | H2O | 0.004 | 20.0 | 2.0 | 0.3 |
Liquid Helium
Liquid helium is more cost-effective for transportation due to the ten-fold reduction in weight. Liquid helium is the leader in boiling temperature (–269°С) and practically does not contain impurities of any kind.
Iceblick, Ltd. delivers high-purity liquid helium in 250 L, 400 L and 500 L containers.
Dewars containing liquid helium.
