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DOE Announces New Lab Consortia to Advance Hydrogen, Fuel Cells

On June 23, the US Department of Energy announced that it will invest up to $100 million over five years in two new DOE National Laboratory-led consortia to advance hydrogen and fuel cell technologies research and development. One consortium will seek to achieve large-scale, affordable electrolyzers which use electricity to...

Rice Physicist Earns Grant to Study Magnetism

On June 23, the Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences awarded Rice University experimental physicist Ming Yi a five-year grant to explore the details of magnetism in two-dimensional materials. She and her colleagues seek to learn the origin of magnetism in bulk materials that are exfoliated for use...

Bluefors, Physics World Offer Cryogenics in Quantum Technologies Webinar

Bluefors, a Finnish cryogenics company focused on the quantum computing industry, and Physics World are jointly presenting a free quantum computing-centered webinar open to the public. The live "Next Generation of Cryogenics: Tailored for Quantum Technologies" will be presented at 3 p.m. BST/5 p.m. EET on July 2, 2020. It...

Electricity Transmission Reaches Even Higher Intensities at CERN

In CERN’s superconducting equipment testing hall, an innovative transmission line has set a new record for the transport of electricity. The 60-meter long link has transported a total of 54,000 amperes (54 kA, or 27 kA in either direction). The line has been developed for the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), the...

Scientists Use Pressure to Make Liquid Magnetism Breakthrough

Using two flat-top diamonds and a lot of pressure, scientists at Argonne National Laboratory (CSA CSM) have forced a magnetic crystal into a spin liquid state, which may lead to insights into high temperature superconductivity and quantum computing.

CERN Researchers Create, Study New Exotic Atom at Paul Scherrer Institute

A team of researchers from CERN’s Atomic Spectroscopy and Collisions Using Slow Antiprotons (ASACUSA) collaboration have taken experimental equipment from CERN to the Paul Scherrer Institute near Zurich to create a theoretically predicted, but never before verified, exotic atom and made first measurements of how it absorbs and resonates with...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Dewar

A dewar is a type of cryostat named after Sir James Dewar, the researcher who first developed the concept of a vacuum insulated container with silvered walls to reflect thermal radiation. Dewar was the first to liquefy hydrogen, and he created the device to store his discovery. The thermos bottle...

Stirling and Gifford-McMahon Cryocoolers

Stirling and Gifford-McMahon (GM) cryocoolers are two of the most commonly used cryocoolers in cryogenics. Both devices have a significant industrial base and operate at a wide range of temperatures and capacities. The thermodynamic cycles for both of these cryocoolers are quite similar. The Stirling cycle consists of a compressor,...

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

A significant commercial application of cryogenics is the liquefaction, transport and storage of natural gas. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is generally 95 percent methane with a few percent ethane and much lower concentrations of propane and butane. LNG liquefies at 111.6 K. Unlike many applications of cryogenics, the motivation for...

Latest in Cryo Central

Wind Tunnels

Dr. Robert Kilgore The development of the cryogenic wind tunnel is one of many significant breakthroughs in both cryogenics and wind-tunnel technology made during the past millennium. Interest in the development of high-speed commercial and military aircraft resulted in a review of problems of flow simulation in transonic wind tunnels...

History of Cryogenics

From the Fall 1999 issue of Cold Facts magazine Millennium Breakthroughs A variety of CSA members give different perspectives on the past millennium: What were the most significant breakthroughs in cryogenics during the past millennium? Prof. R.G. Scurlock, Kryos Technology, scurlock@soton.ac.uk (“Breakthrough” = way through obstacles — Oxford English Dictionary)...

Cryobiology

Andreas Sputtek Past President Society for Cryobiology sputtek@uke.uni-hamburg.de or http://www.sputtek.de/. The word cryobiology (from the Greek words “cryo” = cold, “bios” = life, and “logos” = science) literally signifies the science of life at low temperatures. In practice, this field comprises the study of any biological material or system (e.g.,...

Cryogenic Insulation

James E. Fesmire Cryogenics Test Laboratory NASA Kennedy Space Center james.e.fesmire@nasa.gov Introduction In today’s world, the use of cryogenics and low-temperature refrigeration is taking a more and more significant role. From the food industry, transportation, energy, and medical applications to the Space Shuttle, cryogenic liquids must be stored, handled, and...

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