Cold Facts Digital – The go-to place for Cryogenics and Superconductivity

Dark Energy Instrument’s Lenses See the Night Sky for the First Time

On April 1, the dome of the Mayall Telescope in Tucson AZ opened to the night sky, and starlight poured through the assembly of six large lenses that were carefully packaged and aligned for a new instrument that will launch later this year.

Advanced Superconducting Motor Experimental Demonstrator Addresses Environmental Concerns

Demaco Holland BV (CSA CSM) is lending its cryogenic expertise to the development of a rotor cryostat for the Advanced Supeconducting Motor Experimental Demonstrator, which will develop, build and test the first fully superconductive motor for aerospace applications.

Women in Cryogenics and Superconductivity 2019

CSA celebrates women in cryogenics and superconductivity. In this feature, six women in positions across the industry discuss current projects, how they entered the field and their thoughts on attracting more women to the profession.

NIST Explains the New Kelvin Definition

The definition of the kelvin (K)—the temperature unit of the International System of Units (SI), has been given a radically new definition. This redefinition was the result of 60 nations’ unanimous vote to revise the SI in November 2018.

CSA Joins CGA, GAWDA To Protest Helium Inhalation in Ad

We at the Cryogenic Society of America add our voice to that of the Compressed Gas Association and GAWDA in expressing our deep concern about a State Farm commercial that has been running across the country, depicting an accident in a tunnel with an overturned helium truck.

CERN Unveils Its Science Gateway Project

CERN is launching the Science Gateway, a new scientific education and outreach center targeting the general public of all ages. The building will be designed by world-renowned architects Renzo Piano Building Workshop. The project will be funded through external donations, with the leading contribution coming from FCA Foundation, a charitable...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Two-Phase Flows

Two-phase flows are those flows in which there is a mixture of two physical states (solid, liquid or vapor). In cryogenic applications, such flows are almost always a mixture of a cryogenic liquid along with its corresponding vapor. A mixture of liquid helium and helium vapor would be a typical...

Supercritical Fluids

A supercritical fluid is defined as a substance whose temperature and pressure exceed those of its critical point. Every pure substance has a critical point that is defined in thermodynamic space by a critical temperature and a corresponding critical pressure. For example, the critical point for helium has a critical...

Brayton Cycle

The Brayton cycle is one of the many thermodynamic cycles used to generate cooling at cryogenic temperatures. Strictly speaking, when referring to cooling we should call this the reverse Brayton cycle as the original Brayton cycle describes the process of power generation or propulsion via a gas turbine. In many...

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