Helium is an Automotive Hero, but is it Sustainable?

There is no doubt that helium’s uses are diverse. Not only can the inert gas chill temperatures to near absolute zero, but it inflates, it lifts, and it cools in contexts across recreation, aerospace, and medicine. Various usages include pressurizing and leak detection, balloon inflation, fiber optics, and glass production. Helium is often mixed with other gases, like oxygen, in treatments for respiratory ailments like asthma and emphysema, and breathing cylinders for deep sea dives.

When it comes to the automotive industry, its inflation and cooling properties make it a competent alternative to pyrotechnic airbag inflators. For drivers and passengers, vehicle safety is a serious concern and helium airbag inflation is a safer option than the previously popular dry chemical, sodium azide.

Using helium seems like the perfect solution to making airbags safer; however, helium is constantly experiencing shortages. Helium may be the second most abundant gas in the universe, but it is also the second lightest, allowing it to slip right out of the earth’s atmosphere. While outer space is overflowing with helium, its reserves are stored deep under the earth’s crust, which makes harvesting the gas difficult and unpredictable.

Helium as a Safe Airbag Solution

We can all agree that vehicle safety equipment is extremely important. Helium and helium mixtures have very high expansion rates, are non-toxic, non-flammable, and maintain airbag pressure longer than other alternatives.

Upon impact, airbags open in 0.03 seconds. Since compressed helium is not a flammable gas like compressed air, there is no burn risk to drivers or passengers. Both airbags in steering wheels and side airbags may use helium, or helium mixtures including nitrogen, carbon dioxide, or argon, as an inflation alternative to pyrotechnic inflators.

In previous systems, the risk of explosion was a real concern. Combined with a pyrotechnic inflating system, sodium azide is triggered by heat, which releases nitrogen gas. The nitrogen chain reaction then inflates the airbag. Though this method is extremely effective, it can be quite dangerous. Sodium azide is more toxic than cyanide and can even become explosive when reacting with metal.

Availability of Helium

Between limited resources, political conflicts, and plant maintenance, dramatic disruptions in the global helium supply have been occurring on and off for nearly 20 years. There are currently only 14 liquid helium refineries in the world today, seven of which are in the United States. The remaining are located in Qatar, Algeria, Australia, Russia and Poland.

The Unites States began its national harvest of helium as a byproduct of natural gases, as there was high demand for helium airships during WWII, the Cold War and the space race. The country tapped into national reserves that are still in use today. Unfortunately, the largest reserve in Amarillo, Texas, which previously provided 40% of the nation’s helium supply, is currently being sold by the U.S Government to private owners.

Deposits of this non-renewable resource will continue to be depleted rapidly, if conservation and recycling efforts are not made. Large companies like General Electric have been innovating helium recycling systems for MRI machines and hopefully those efforts will expand. It would greatly benefit a wide variety of industries if more companies would follow their lead and commit to securing helium availability for the future.

Helium for the Automotive Industry

Helium shortages aren’t over and it’s important to have a relationship with a supplier you trust. At Rocky Mountain Air, we will always strive to deliver reliable service and provide the products you need, when you need them. We sell compressed and liquid helium, along with specialty mixed gases for your automotive applications. Contact us today! We look forward to serving you with flawless dependability.