Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Cryogenic Storage Containers

When considering the various aspects of cooling, transporting and storing human bodies, at cryogenic temperatures, did anyone at Alcor, or the LEF-funded organizations, think of googling "cryogenic freezers"? Did they consult with any of the companies, which manufacture cryogenic containers? Let me guess...instead of consulting with experts in the manufacture of cryogenic containers, most research dollars directed toward that area of cryonics went into the pockets of people like Wowk, Harris and Platt, and other LEF-funded staff members, or to companies like Home Depot, (where I'm sure all reputable manufacturers of cryogenic containers, and other medical equipment, purchase their supplies).

I saw it, myself, at SA...huge amounts of money being spent on the amateur efforts of several highly-paid staff members, attempting to build a cryogenic container, when a basic professionally-built model could have been had for approximately $2500. This was just one of the many kooky "R&D" projects, at SA. When is Saul Kent going to realize he hasn't been funding valid "research," in regard to projects such as these? How many times has anyone, outside the very small sea of cryonics, been impressed, by any of their DIY equipment projects?

Alcor and Cryonics Institute suspend their clients in liquid nitrogen vapor. Have they addressed the issues of temperature variation in this type of storage? What about contamination issues? Do they acknowledge these issues to their members, and potential members, (people who may be charged up to $200,000, to be suspended in liquid nitrogen vapor, at Alcor)?

From this article http://www.btc-bti.com/applications/cryogenicstorage.htm :

"In larger liquid nitrogen freezers, vapor phase gradients have been documented to span the glass transition temperature of water, at times reaching -72°C (White and Wharton, 1984), -70°C (Wolfinbarger, 1998), and -95°C (Rowley and Byrne, 1992). The wide temperature ranges observed with liquid nitrogen storage systems is inherent to their operation...

...Below -130°C, even the most temperature sensitive cells are estimated to survive for hundreds of years. However, above this temperature the longevity of cells is reduced to months."

There's a lot of interesting information in the above article, and many others, which have been published by people experienced in the construction of cryogenic containers. Wouldn't contracting with such a company be the logical thing to do, rather than funding amateur design and engineering projects?
A few more tens of millions of dollars, and another couple of decades, and perhaps the amateur engineers of the cryonics industry will catch up to where the manufacturers of cryogenic containers were, 20 years ago.

Don't let these people fool you, (or take your $200K, or your trust fund, or estate). Others have been capable of cryogenically freezing things, (both large and small), within a narrow range, just below glass transition temperatures, ("intermediate temperature storage"), for years. Just google "cryogenic freezer glass transition," (without the quotation marks), and see for yourself.

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