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SpaceX Conducts Cryogenic Test on Starship SN15

On April 13, Starship SN15 went through the cryogenic proof test. The cryo-test ensures if a spaceship is able to withstand in-flight atmospheric pressures and extremely low temperatures. This is achieved by simulating the in-flight conditions by filling the Starship with liquid nitrogen that has a temperature of −196 °C...

Researchers Develop Cryogenic Coffee Grinding Technology

Skoltech Ph.D. Dima Smirnov and his colleagues from St. Petersburg, Alexander Saichenko, Vladimir Dvortsov, Mikhail Tkachenko and Maxim Kukolev developed a cryogenic cooling technology and combined it with a cryogenic grinding technique to produce, for the first time ever, retail cryoground coffee.

Honoring the Hugets

After 42 years of continued leadership and direction, Laurie and Werner Huget have retired from CSA. For decades, the Hugets have overseen CSA’s day-to-day operations, organized conferences and workshops attended by professionals from around the world and facilitated countless short courses for the cryogenics community. We invite you to continue...

JanisULT, Formerly Janis Research, Launches New Website

In August 2020, Janis Research Company, LLC (CSA CSM) announced a formal change in company name to JanisULT (a trading name of American ULT Cryogenics, LLC) following the successful sale of their laboratory cryogenics business to Lake Shore Cryotronics (CSA CSM). On March 12, the company announced their updated website,...

IceCube Detection of a High Energy Particle Proves 60-Year-Old Theory

On December 6, 2016, a high energy particle called an electron antineutrino hurtled to Earth from outer space at close to the speed of light carrying 6.3 petaelectronvolts of energy. Deep inside the ice sheet at the South Pole, it smashed into an electron and produced a particle that quickly...

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Mixed Refrigerant Cycles

Most cryogenic refrigeration systems, both large scale systems and cryocoolers, use helium as a working fluid. There are a number of advantages to helium, not the least of which is that helium remains a fluid down to the lowest achievable temperatures. In order to freeze helium, pressures of over 20...

Fountain Pumps and He II Phase Separators

Helium II (He II), the second liquid phase of the 4He isotope described in this column in Cold Facts Spring 2010 (http://2csa.us/he2), can be modeled as consisting of two interpenetrating fluids. One, the superfluid component, has zero viscosity and entropy and the other, the normal fluid component, has nonzero viscosity...

Turboexpanders

A vital technology in the refrigerators and liquefiers described in Cold Facts Volume 31 Number 3 is that of turboexpanders. These devices are rotating machines in which the process fluid (e.g., helium) does work against the turboexpander while moving from high pressure to a lower pressure and thus is cooled....

Food Processing

Cryogenics and Food The industrial gas industry provides a host of products and services related to food. The various gases have useful and sometimes fascinating applications in food industry. “The food industry is not a homogenous industry. The needs of customers processing hamburger vs. poultry vs. strawberries vs. seafood, for...

Primary Standards

Elie K. Track Hypres, Inc. elie@hypres.com http://www.hypres.com/ Primary standards involve the exact definition and realization of units of measurement for various quantities, time, length, mass, voltage, resistance, current, etc. International agreements based on the latest scientific knowledge define those units, and their realizations vary depending on the unit itself. For...

Shrink Fitting

Robin A. Rhodes Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. rrhodes@nitrofreeze.com Shrink fitting, (or “compression fitting” as it is sometimes called), is a method used to insert a pin or bushing into a housing or other assembly requiring an extremely tight tolerance fit. It can be used as an alternative to...

Telecommunications

From the Winter 2004 issue of Cold Facts magazine The recent M-Calc IV — 4th Industry Assessment workshop discussing military and commercial applications for low-cost cryocoolers, held in November in San Diego, highlighted progress being made in cryogenics as applied in telecommunications. The reliability and long lifetime of projects now...

An Issue of Pressure and Flow Rate in a Supply Tank

Please help solve this problem: A supply tank requires a vaporizer to generate sufficient pressure to pump stored fluid up into a vehicle or tank. The available head is limited as the tank level falls and it is important to minimize the system pressure drop to maintain the desired flow...

Using MLI on VJ Line Joints or Cryo Storage Tanks

When installing Multi Layer Insulation (MLI) blankets on VJ line joints or cryo storage tanks should they be wrapped and tied down tight or loose? These are usually pre-cut to size. Also should they have an access hole at the point of where the molecular sieve is installed to help...