Portable xenon pressure chamber

Oxford Cryosystems has teamed up with the University of Oxford to design and manufacture a portable xenon pressure chamber, the Xcell. This device is designed to easily produce heavy-atom derivatives for macromolecular X-ray crystallography.

The Xcell encloses the crystal sample in a small chamber. The chamber can then be pressurized with xenon from a cylinder to a maximum of 25 bar. A quick-release connector allows the Xcell to be isolated from the gas supply whilst still under pressure, making the device both highly portable and highly usable. Other benefits of the Xcell include:

• a small pressure chamber to minimize the consumption of expensive xenon;

• various safety features such as a pre-set relief valve allowing a maximum pressure of 25 bar inside the cell;

• carefully controlled inlet and vent valves to enable the chamber to be pressurized and vented without damage to the crystal sample;

• compatibility with common sample-mounting systems;

• carefully controlled inlet and vent valves to enable the chamber to be pressurized and vented without damage to the crystal sample.