I find the discussion most intruiging.
Yes... I've seen the same problem on a variety of Oxford magnets on Bruker
systems that I've used. I had always assumed dripping water was par for the
course on such systems.
We have a Varian system, which uses a Varian egg-shaped magnet. Now, I know
these magnets have had their critics, but one thing it sure doesn't do is
drip water down the magnet from the nitrogen port.
The N2 port is sealed with a cap (aluminium, I presume) from which
vaporizing N2 disappears down a tubing which feeds an N2 boiloff meter,
before being ported to the room. The only time ice may appears on this
tubing, or condensation occurs on the cap, is in the first 5 mins after a
liquid N2 fill, if the liquid N2 may have flowed longer than it needed to.
The rest of the time, the port is as dry as the rest of magnet. There is no
need for sponges, fins, heaters, or anything.
Maybe someone with both types of magnets in their lab, or with other
contacts with Varian may be able to extract some useful information on how
this achieved on Varian magnets.
Ross
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Ross Mair Email: rmair@stan.xx.swin.oz.au
NMR Lab Snail: Mail 41, Swinburne University,
Applied Chemistry Dept PO Box 218, Hawthorn, 3122.
Swinburne University of Technology Fax: +61-3-8190834
Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia Voice: +61-3-8198843
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