Guy Gistau-Baguer made significant advances in the development of medium- and large-scale helium refrigerators and was at the forefront of moving large practical systems into scientific facilities throughout the world. Gistau-Baguer taught extensively, wrote an important text on cryogenic refrigeration, and provided years of service to the cryogenics community.
Guy was born in Génos, France and graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers in 1963. In 1965, he joined Air Liquide where he spent the bulk of his career, retiring in 2000.
During his time at Air Liquide, Guy performed tasks including operation of an air separation plant, technical gas sales, and most extensively, the design, installation, and commissioning of helium refrigeration and liquefaction plants. Guy helped develop the first automatic helium refrigerator/liquefier (HELIAL) as well as the Tore Supra refrigerator, the CEBAF refrigerator and three plants at CERN: a 6 kW at 4.5 K refrigerator, the LEP 12/18 kW at 4.5 K refrigerator, and the LHC 18 kW at 4.5 K and 2.4 kW at 1.8 K refrigerator.
Credit: Guy Gistau
The Tore Supra refrigerator was the first to use cold compressors to reach 1.8 K (Figure 1). Today this technique is used for all large plants wishing to achieve temperatures below 4.2 K. The plants at CEBAF and CERN are large-scale helium refrigerators that are efficient, reliable, and automated. Guy was awarded nine patents in the field of helium refrigeration during his career.
After his retirement from Air Liquide, Guy worked as a consultant and educator. He taught more than 80 classes on cryogenic fundamentals and helium. He was a consultant on many cryogenic projects including the ITER fusion experiment and the European Spallation Source (ESS).
Guy published more than 50 papers on various aspects of cryogenics including: “Design of the Cryogenic System for the Tore Supra Tokamak,” Cryogenics, Vol. 26 (1986) and “Two Large 18 kW (Equivalent Power at 4.5 K) Helium Refrigerators for CERN’s LHC Project, Supplied by Air Liquide,” Advances in Cryogenic Engineering (1999).
Toward the end of his career, Guy captured his experience in the book Cryogenic Helium Refrigeration for Medium and High Powers, Springer (2020). This text (Figure 2) provided both theoretical and practical information on the design and operation of these refrigerators. The book was extensively equipped with figures, tables, and equations. One notable aspect of the book was a “Cryogenic Tool Box” that explains how to perform typical thermodynamic calculations with REFPROP® and Excel® for heat exchangers, expansion turbines, and other cryogenic components.
Guy was deeply involved in service to the cryogenic community. He served on the International Cryogenic Engineering Conference (ICEC) board from 1984 to 2008, chairing the board from 1998–2008. He also served on the A1/2 commission of the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) and the board of the Association Française du Froid, Commission Cryogénie et Supraconductivité. He also served as an advisory editor for the journal Cryogenics. He was always willing to review papers, chair conference sessions, or speak to students.
For his accomplishments in cryogenics, Guy was presented the Mendelssohn Award by the ICEC board and the Charles Tellier Medal from the Association Française du Froid.
Guy Gistau-Baguer’s contributions helped bridge the gap between laboratory and industry. His efforts are part of the reason that large-scale helium cryogenic systems are ubiquitous in modern science laboratories.
