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CERN Successfully Tests Cooler Way to Transport Electricity

A 60-meter-long line has been developed for CERN’s future accelerator, the High-Luminosity LHC, which is due to come into operation in 2026. Tests began last year and the line has transported 40,000 amps, 20 times more than what is possible at room temperature with ordinary copper cables of a similar...

Cryogenics, Superconductivity Enabled Historic Black Hole Photograph

In April, the Event Horizon Telescope captured the first ever photo of a black hole. Superconducting submillimeter detectors, developed by engineers and astronomers at the University of Virginia and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, helped make visible what once was only black. These devices were responsible for capturing...

Cryo-EM Imaging Enables First Snapshots of Trapped CO2 Molecules

Scientists have taken the first images of carbon dioxide molecules within a molecular cage using a new twist on cryo-EM imaging. The development came in mid-June and reveals what’s going on inside MOFs, highly porous nanoparticles with big potential for storing fuel, separating gases and removing carbon dioxide from the...

Research Group Sets New Temperature Record For Superconductivity

An international team of scientists has built a superconductor that functions at 250 K, nearly 50 °C (84.6 °F) hotter than the previous record high for superconductivity—and it puts the “holy grail” of energy transmission almost within reach. In a study published in Nature, scientists describe their new material, lanthanum...

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Helium-3

Helium-3 (3He) is one of the two stable isotopes of helium. The other is the much more common Helium-4 (4He). Neither of these isotopes should be confused with He II, which is the second liquid phase of 4He. He II was discussed in this column in the Spring 2010 edition...

Cryopumping

Cryopumping refers to the use of cryogenic temperatures to produce vacuum in enclosed spaces. More broadly, it can also refer to the removal of gases via cryogenic temperatures from a flow stream or enclosure without necessarily resulting in vacuum pressures. This is an important application of cryogenics and is used...

Thermal Acoustic Oscillations

Thermal Acoustic Oscillations (TAO) are a common event in cryogenic systems that can have significant adverse effects on the performance of the system. TAOs are sustained pressure oscillations that can occur in tubes containing gas, closed at one end (the warm end) that have a very large temperature gradient along...

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...

In search of a calculation for designing a cryostat

I am a final year physics student at the University of Birmingham, and as part of a group I am currently designing a cryostat. One of the calculations I need to make (very soon!) is how much heat will be conducted down the walls. All information I have found so...

Safety of ethylene glycol and pressurized oxygen

We are reviewing the product design of liquid filled differential level gauges and want to insure that they meet the industry requirements. The former license owner had authorized that a fill fluid of ethylene glycol (68%) and distilled water (32%) could be used for oxygen service up to 500 psi....