A thermal management system that includes an open-circuit refrigeration system having an open-circuit refrigerant fluid flow path is described. The open-circuit refrigeration system includes a receiver configured to store a refrigerant fluid, an evaporator configured to receive the refrigerant fluid at a evaporator inlet and to extract heat from a heat load that contacts the evaporator, and provide refrigerant vapor at a evaporator outlet. The open-circuit refrigeration system also includes a vapor pump device having a vapor pump inlet that receives the refrigerant vapor and having a vapor pump outlet that outputs compressed refrigerant vapor to an exhaust line coupled to the vapor pump outlet, with the receiver, the evaporator, the vapor pump device, and the exhaust line connected in the open-circuit refrigerant fluid flow path.

This disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices for phytochemical extraction. One example extraction system includes two solvent columns, a material column, and a dewaxing column. The solvent columns store and provide solvent for stripping target chemicals from plant material in the material column. The solvent mixed with target chemicals passes into the dewaxing column, where the target chemicals are separated from waxes and lipids. Cooling is applied to elements of the system by way of an open-loop CO2 refrigeration method. Solvent is moved from the solvent columns to the material column by creating a pressure differential between the two solvent columns.

An example flash tank includes a first inlet configured to receive a superheated vapor refrigerant, a second inlet configured to receive a two-phase refrigerant, a vapor outlet, a liquid collection volume, and a phase separation matrix including a first fluid path fluidically coupled between the first inlet and the liquid collection volume, a second fluid path fluidically coupled between the second inlet and the liquid collection volume, and a third fluid path fluidically coupled between the vapor outlet and the liquid collection volume. The phase separation matrix is configured to radially distribute thermal mixing of a refrigerant flowing within the first, second, and third fluid paths.

An example flash tank includes a first inlet configured to receive a superheated vapor refrigerant, a second inlet configured to receive a two-phase refrigerant, a vapor outlet, a liquid collection volume, and a phase separation matrix including a first fluid path fluidically coupled between the first inlet and the liquid collection volume, a second fluid path fluidically coupled between the second inlet and the liquid collection volume, and a third fluid path fluidically coupled between the vapor outlet and the liquid collection volume. The phase separation matrix is configured to radially distribute thermal mixing of a refrigerant flowing within the first, second, and third fluid paths.

A flow modulation device 300 for controlling a rheological state of a dispensed pressurized fluid includes a porous element 304 and an exit tube. The porous element 304 is in fluid communication with a distal end of an outlet tube 303 and receives pressurized fluid in a first rheological state. The porous element 304 includes a plurality of channels that divide a flow channel into a plurality of flow paths through which the pressurized fluid flows and that modulates the flow of the pressurized fluid. The exit tube 305 includes proximal end 355 and distal end 345 and an intermediate body including a sidewall 365 defining a hollow internal lumen 375. The exit tube 305 is in fluid communication with the porous element 304 and receives the modulated pressurized fluid from the plurality of flow paths and refocuses the fluid to dispense the pressurized fluid in a second rheological state.

A portable air cooler is fashioned as a storage chest for ice cubes, dry ice, or other pre-chilled articles such as reusable freezable blocks. Sidewalls of the chest include air intakes, and a baffle forces intake air to pass by or through the chilled articles to that the air is cooled by heat exchange. Fans in the chest lid exhaust the cooled air, which may be used to cool waste heat from a heat-producing device lain atop the chest. The lid also includes stand-offs to allow airflow under the device being cooled, and guardrails help maintain the device in position over the fans providing cooling air and prevent the device from being casually knocked off the top of the lid of the chest.

A portable air cooler is fashioned as a storage chest for ice cubes, dry ice, or other pre-chilled articles such as reusable freezable blocks. Sidewalls of the chest include air intakes, and a baffle forces intake air to pass by or through the chilled articles to that the air is cooled by heat exchange. Fans in the chest lid exhaust the cooled air, which may be used to cool waste heat from a heat-producing device lain atop the chest. The lid also includes stand-offs to allow airflow under the device being cooled, and guardrails help maintain the device in position over the fans providing cooling air and prevent the device from being casually knocked off the top of the lid of the chest.

A horizontal Dewar flask is used with an optical metrology device, which may advantageously reduce the vertical height of the device. A thermal transfer member provides thermal transfer between a liquefied gas cooled sensor and liquefied gas in a chamber of the Dewar flask. To compensate for the loss of thermal transfer from the sensor as the liquefied gas evaporates and changes to a gaseous state, the thermal transfer member biases heat transfer to the liquefied gas that is at the bottom of the chamber. The thermal transfer member may have a larger surface area at a bottom portion of the thermal transfer member than the upper portion. For example, the thermal transfer member may include one or more projections that extend into the liquefied gas with greater density at the bottom of the chamber than at the top of the chamber.

Disclosed are an in-line direct cryogenic method and system for cooling heated fluid food products, such as sauces. The method includes injecting cryogen directly into the fluid to be cooled while the flow rate of the fluid to be cooled is adjusted in response to downstream temperature measurements and while maintaining the injection rate of the cryogen into the fluid. According to the method the flow of the sauce is adjusted during the flow of the cryogen to achieve process stability, product uniformity and efficient use of the cryogen.

A closed cycle cryocooler is thermally connected to an elongated, cup-shaped sample well and cools down the sample well. Gaseous helium at a relatively low pressure is introduced into the sample well so that, as the sample well is cooled by the cryocooler, the gas in the sample well is also cooled. A sample is attached to a sample stick assembly which is then lowered into the sample well where the sample is cooled by the cooled gas to carryout experiments at low temperature. The sample stick assembly is mechanically attached to the spectrometer magnets and a flexible rubber bellows connects the sample stick assembly to the sample well so that vibration generated by the cryocooler is not transferred to the sample.