3 SPC-1’s Cryogenerators where supplied to cool the liquid argon for the DEAP-3600 dark matter detector at Snolab, Sudbury ON, Canada.
At Snolab, Sudbury ON, Canada, 2037 meter(!) below the surface (in an old mine) 3 Stirling Cryogenics SPC-1 cryogenerators are cooling the DEAP-3600 project.
The goal of the DEAP experiment is to directly observe and identify the dark matter component of the universe. This will be achieved by observing the elastic scattering of dark matter particles, probably in the form of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), from argon nuclei.
Within the experiment liquid argon (-186°C) is being used. In order not to jeopardize the quality of the LAr, it is indirectly cooled with liquid nitrogen in a closed loop through the Stirling coolers. In order to insure operations, the coolers are configured in a redundant set up.