Oxford Cryostream Programming HowTo

(This is duplicated elsewhere).

To Program the Oxford cryo controller:

• Power on the unit
• Wait for the self-test to complete (screen shows STATUS: Ready)
• Press the PROGRAM button
• Use the arrow keys to find RAMP command
• Use arrow and enter keys to set a 120K/hr ramp down to 100K
• Use arrow keys to find HOLD command (not the HOLD button!!)
• Use enter to select HOLD at 100K
• Use arrow keys to select END command
• Use arrow keys and enter to select an END ramping at 120K/hr to 293K

To commence ramp-down and execution:
press START button
(this will do the RAMP and stop at the HOLD)

Then use the cryo for your experiment (controller will show >HOLD on screen)

To commence ramp-up and shutdown: press START button again (this will move past the HOLD and execute the END command)

The ">" will show next to the command it is executing.

In short:

RAMP 120  100
HOLD 100
END  120  293

Press START to start, let it cool down, run the cryo as normal for the duration of your experiment, then press START again once you have finished with the machine to do an orderly shutdown. You will still need to power off after the system reaches room temperature, but the gas flow stops by itself.

NOTE: if the cryo cannot get down to the RAMP set temperature it won't move to the HOLD by itself. To force it to do so - press the HOLD button (which interrupts the RAMP to force a HOLD), then run your experiment. When you are finished, press the START button, whence it should start doing the END sequence.

Failure to reach 100K usually means a significant problem with the cryo head. Make sure you tell Phil about such problems.