MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Feel like permanently destroying the nerve endings on your fingers? According to Navy Cryogenics division technicians, dipping them in liquid nitrogen for a couple of seconds should do the trick.
Fortunately, these highly trained experts are the only individuals with access to such cool elements around here.
Their job is to pressurize and cool down air into liquid form, separating it into two elements: oxygen and nitrogen. Operating highly technological machines that create temperatures far below -150 degrees Fahrenheit, these Sailors store 2,000 gallons of liquid nitrogen and 3,000 gallons of liquid oxygen a day.
"The whole reason we liquefy the elements is to be able to store them," said Petty Officer 1st Class Csaba S. Hutoczki, Cryogenics technician. "In liquid form, they're hundreds of times more dense than in gaseous form. If we vaporized one gallon of liquid nitrogen, it would fill up a whole room and you wouldn't be able to breath."
These elements have a variety of crucial uses around the Station to include use in medical equipment, gas-pressured shocks and struts, and air supply for pilots.
"Navy cryogenics provides a unique service because of the specialized expertise the technicians possess in producing liquid oxygen and nitrogen. They possess the ability to maintain the equipment in top readiness condition in support of operational commitments of the command," said Senior Chief Petty Officer Rollie B. Jara, Cryogenics division officer in charge. "Going through a rigorous technical training period and earning a unique NEC (Navy Enlisted Code) specialty code is a prerequisite these technical engineers need prior to being transferred to Iwakuni."
Expertise is necessary in a job involving extreme and volatile elements. According to Hutoczi, one spark near a tank of liquid oxygen is enough to cause an explosion, and one coin exposed to liquid nitrogen will shatter like glass when dropped.
Wearing specially-designed boots, gloves, masks and coveralls to protect them from harmful exposure, the Sailors labor to not only liquefy air, but ensure the purity of the elements as well.
"The process is compress, purify, cool down and separate, liquefy and distribute," said Hutoczi. "After we compress it, we clean it by sending it through three filters. We cool it down using pressurizers. As we cool down the air, it will partially liquefy, which will enable us to separate the two main components, oxygen and nitrogen. The end product will be that both elements are 99.5 percent pure."
Thanks to the knowledge and expertise of these technicians, a crucial resource is provided to the Station, helping to ensure the success of it's overall mission.
"Their specialty, coupled with skills and abilities, without question, makes the division unique," said Jara. "But their dedication, teamwork and enjoyment in making the division self-sufficient in the production of (oxygen and nitrogen) and maintaining the equipment is the true uniqueness of the division."