Abstract
For many decades helium liquefaction had been a science for itself. With the raise of exotic scientific research at the universities in the 80's the need for affordable industrial liquefiers led to the development of standardized plants of type TCF. Further development in this field result in nowadays highly efficient and reliable standard liquefier and refrigerator product line of Linde Kryotechnik named L-series. This paper gives an overview of the latest different improvement steps that had been taken, including development work in turbo expander design and purifier performance. The specific impact on efficiency gets indicated by comparing the performances of the new L-series versus the former well-established TCF liquefiers. The main equipment and the infrastructure for a helium distribution center get shortly described. Performance data together with high reliability explain the strong market position of Linde Kryotechnik worldwide and together with its partner TNSC especially in Japan.
