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New NASA Gears Can Withstand Impact, Freezing Temperatures during Lunar Missions

A joint NASA JPl/Caltech project is developing special gears that can withstand the extreme temperatures experienced during missions to the Moon and beyond. Many exploration destinations in our solar system are frigid and require hardware that can withstand the extreme cold. During NASA’s Artemis missions, temperatures at the Moon’s South...

Technifab Introduces Updated Automatic Dewar Filling Station

Technifab Products (CSA CSM), a producer of cryogenic equipment and systems, released the latest version of their Automatic Fill Station, the AFS-01. The system is designed to fill portable low pressure liquid nitrogen dewars from a pipe system or bulk tank. The AFS-01 puts an emphasis on three main points:...

APS designates Sanford Lab, Morgan State University as historic physics sites

On September 14, the American Physical Society (APS) announced it has designated Sanford Lab Underground Research Facility (SURF) and Morgan State University as two Historic Sites in physics. SURF, located in Lead SD, is being recognized for its role in neutrino research led by Ray Davis while Morgan State University...

Lab Researcher and Physics Undergrad Creates Poster Project Honoring Black Physicists

Inspired by the nation’s grappling with issues of race and racial discrimination, UC Berkeley physics major and Berkeley Lab student assistant Ana Lyons turned to art as a way to contribute to the conversation. Aware of the scientific community’s own self-reflection for its history of racial inequity and discrimination, Lyons...

LIGO, Virgo Detect Most Massive Gravitational-Wave Source Yet

On September 2, researchers at LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) in California and Virgo Interferometer have detected a signal from what may be the most massive black hole merger yet observed in gravitational waves. The product of the merger is the first clear detection of an “intermediate-mass” black hole, with...

Pandemic’s Global Slowdown Relieves Helium Industry Pressure

Last September, Cold Facts examined the then-ongoing third global helium shortage (Cold Facts, Vol. 35, Number 4) as it forced the world to reconsider the myriad applications and processes utilizing helium. Now, as the pandemic slows the global economy, helium users and experts are reconsidering what the future of helium...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Cold Compressors

A common way to provide cooling below the normal boiling point of helium (4.2K) is to reduce the pressure above the bath of liquid helium, thus also reducing the bath’s equilibrium saturation temperature. For example, to produce a 1.8K bath of liquid helium, the saturation pressure has to be reduced...

Kapitza Conductance

Kapitza conductance refers to the heat transfer between a solid surface and a fluid that covers that surface. Fundamentally, it describes the inherent difficulty in transferring energy from a solid to the fluid covering the solid surface. This phenomenon was first observed by P. L. Kapitza in 1941 while studying...

Thermosyphons

A thermosyphon (or thermosiphon) is a device that transfers heat via natural convection in a fluid. The natural convection is driven by gravity with the colder, denser fluid flowing downhill and the warmer, less dense fluid flowing back up. Thus, thermosyphons connect an object to be cooled with a reservoir...

Latest in Cryo Central

Air Separation and Liquefaction

by Nils Tellier, PE, President, EPSIM Corporation (CSA CSM) nils@epsim.us All illustrations courtesy EPSIM Corporation Background History of Air Separation and Liquefaction This section builds on a rich history of methods to develop deep refrigeration and cryogenic liquefaction during the 19th Century. You are encouraged to read Cryo Central’s History...

Bose-Einstein Condensate

A Bose-Einstein condensate, first proposed in 1925 by Albert Einstein based on work done by Satyendra Nath Bose (the same Bose from whom the term boson is derived), is a super-cold state of matter in which almost all of the individual atoms have “condensed” down to the lowest possible quantum...

Cold Technology for Pest Control

While it does not reach temperatures cold enough to be called cryogenic, carbon dioxide snow is at the heart of a new way of dealing with unwanted pests. It utilizes a quick freezing process that takes advantage of the properties of carbon dioxide snow and has a number of benefits...

Cryogenic Finishing

The following 3 articles discuss the uses and procedures of various type of cryogenic finishing. 1) By Robin A. Rhodes, Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. rrhodes@nitrofreeze.com Cryogenic Deflashing is employed to remove undesired residual mold flash that remains on molded parts after they are removed or ejected from the...

Latest in Ask the Experts

Dry ice vs. LN2 for preserving tissue

I was wondering if anyone could provide feedback/data on whether it is best in terms of preserving tissue quality to freeze tissue in OCT using dry ice versus liquid nitrogen?

Are there lists of existing biorepositories?

We are a relatively new Biorepository that was developed as part of a large breast cancer epidemiology study, and thus far we have accumulated DNA on over 8000 women along with extensive questionnaire, mammography, and case status data. I was wondering, are there lists of existing Biorepositories with their contents?...

Heat flux value for inner vessel when vacuum insulation fails

To size a relief valve for a LN2 cryostat I have to know “worse case” boil-off rate when vacuum insulation failed and inner vessel with LN2 is in direct contact with room temperature air at 300K. So, I am looking for a heat flux value (watt/m2) to LN2 inner vessel...

Trying to design a system to store ammonia at -33°C

I am working on a project where we are trying to design a system to store ammonia at -33°C. In order to size the compressors to maintain the ammonia in the liquid state, I need to estimate the heat gained from the environment including the radiation from the sun and...

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