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ITER Cryostat Base Positioned; Project 70% Prepared for First Plasma

On May 26, the soup-bowl-shaped base of the ITER cryostat was gradually lifted from its frame, carried across the Assembly Hall to the Tokamak Building and eventually lowered into the Tokamak assembly pit. In a delicate lifting operation, the cryostat base descended into the deep concrete cylinder of the tokamak...

AFCryo, Cryomech Collaborate to Provide Helium Recovery, LN2 Generation

Beginning last year, AFCryo (CSA CSM), a division of Fabrum Solutions, and Cryomech (CSA CSM) worked collaboratively to design and supply a helium recovery system and a liquid nitrogen generation system at the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) laboratory at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. While both companies produce cryocoolers...

XENON1T Dark Matter Experiment Detects Unexplained Excess Events, Prepares Upgrades

Scientists from the international XENON collaboration announced on June 17 that data from their XENON1T detector, the world’s most sensitive dark matter experiment, shows a surprising excess of events. While the scientists do not claim to have found dark matter, the source of the observed unexpected rate of events is...

US Military Getting Serious about Nuclear Thermal Propulsion

The US Department of Defense is getting interested in space-based propulsion. Through a May presolicitation, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced its intent to have a flyable nuclear thermal propulsion system ready for a demonstration in 2025.

Revolutionary Microscopy Technique Sees Individual Atoms for First Time

A “game-changing” technique for imaging molecules known as cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has produced its sharpest pictures yet and, for the first time, discerned individual atoms in a protein. The breakthrough reported by the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany, and the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular...

Cryo-Ops 2020 to Connect Researchers, Industry Professionals in France

Cryo-Ops 2020, the 9th edition of the International Workshop on Cryogenic Operations, will be held in Grenoble, France, November 2-4. Organized by the Département des Systèmes Basses Températures (DSBT) and Université Grenoble-Alpes, the workshop will take place at the Institut Néel campus located in the world-class scientific GIANT (Grenoble Innovation...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Regenerators

Regenerators or regenerative heat exchangers are a key component of cryocoolers such as pulse tube cryocoolers (Cold Facts, August 2014). Regenerator performance greatly affects the coefficient of performance of cryocoolers. Improvements in regenerator design and, in particular, regenerator materials have been an important factor in the improvement of the performance...

Pulse Tube Cryocoolers

The development of pulse tube cryocoolers has been a significant topic of research and development over the past 20 or so years. Pulse tube cryocoolers have a number of advantages over other types of cryocoolers and are now available commercially. In order to understand pulse tube cryocoolers, it’s best to...

Thermal Expansion

Thermal expansion refers to the change in size (length or volume) that a material undergoes as its temperature changes. In cryogenic systems this effect can be quite large and must be allowed for in the design. In isotropic materials, which include most engineering materials, the thermal expansion is the same...

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

Benefit of cryotreatment of audio circuit boards and interconnecting cables

Does cryotreatment of audio circuit boards and interconnecting cables (copper, silver, gold) properly done, provide a permanent benefit?

Standards and codes for design of cryogenic equipment?

What standards and codes are used in the design of cryogenic equipment?

Cryogenic thermophysical property data

I am in search of information regarding cryogenic thermophysical property data, specifically, Thermal Conductivity, Thermal Expansion, Stiffness and Modulus, in the 20K range. My list of materials include: Ti-6AL-4V (ELI), Al 6061-T651, and Invar (36%, plus any other composition which might have data available). Other materials which would be helpful...

Issue with insulation for ventilation system

I am with the Goodrich Corporation, an Aerospace products manufacturer. We currently utilize a number of environmental chambers (LN2 based) for environmental type conformity testing.

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