A setup for fast cooling of liquids in sealed containers

We present a simple layout of a fast cooling system for liquids in sealed containers utilizing the large temperature gradients of cold nitrogen gas. Our system is optimized for about 20 cylindrical containers of 500 cm3, but the setup allows for simple up- and down-scaling as well as the use of arbitrary containers. We have characterized the cooling performance of our system experimentally for temperatures of the liquid in the range from room temperature down to the freezing point at −2 ºC. With our system we achieve container cooling times as low as 3 min, a significant reduction if compared to cooling times with common methods in the range of 8 to 40 min. Modeling of the cooling process proves that convection within the liquid is crucial for quick heat transfer. For the cases studied here, the most important factor limiting the cooling rate is the thermal conductivity of the container material.