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Bluefors Delivers 18 Cryogenic Systems to Japan’s New G-QuAT Quantum Center

Bluefors has announced the successful delivery and installation of 18 cryogenic systems for the Global Research and Development Center for Business by Quantum-AI Technology (G-QuAT) at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). The opening of the G-QuAT center in Tsukuba, Japan, on May 18, 2025, marked...

Motor Protein Dynamics Guide Brain Disease Drug Targeting; Cryo-EM Technology at Work

The cell cytoskeleton is modulated by motor proteins, known as dyneins, that generate force and movement on microtubules to control a wide range of biological processes, including motility, cell division, and intracellular transport. Mutation of Lis1, a key dynein regulator, can lead to the rare mental developmental disorder lissencephaly, or...

Omani and Chinese R&D Entities to Study Hydrogen Liquefaction

The Sustainable Energy Research Centre (SERC), a prominent Omani research facility based at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), has announced a partnership with China’s SinoScience Clean Energy Technology Co. Ltd. The collaboration aims to identify technologies that will enable the liquefaction of green hydrogen for export. SinoScience, headquartered in the Chinese...

For the first time, researchers confirmed the presence of crystalline water ice in a dusty debris disk that orbits a Sun-like star, using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. All the frozen water detected by Webb is paired with fine dust particles throughout the disk. The majority of the water ice observed is found where it’s coldest and farthest from the star. The closer to the star the researchers looked, the less water ice they found. NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

NASA Webb Identifies Frozen Water in Young Star System

Is frozen water scattered in systems around other stars? Astronomers have long expected it is, partially based on previous detections of its gaseous form, water vapor, and its presence in our own solar system. Now there is definitive evidence: Researchers confirmed the presence of crystalline water ice in a dusty debris...

A computer-generated image of a liquid hydrogen carrier concept HD Hyundai KSOE is already working on with Woodside Energy and MOLPhoto: DNV

South Korea to Invest $39.2M in Large-Scale Liquid Hydrogen Carriers

South Korea has announced plans to invest 55.5 billion won ($39.2 million) in the development of large-scale liquid hydrogen carriers, with the goal of launching a demonstration ship by 2027. The project is part of the country’s broader effort to take a leading role in the emerging global hydrogen economy....

Interlune Secures Helium-3 Agreements with Maybell Quantum and U.S. Department of Energy

Interlune, a U.S.-based space resources company, has signed landmark agreements to supply lunar-sourced helium-3 to both Maybell Quantum and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Maybell Quantum will be Interlune’s first commercial customer, receiving thousands of liters of helium-3 annually from 2029 to 2035. The helium-3 will support Maybell’s advanced...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

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...

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

An Issue of Pressure and Flow Rate in a Supply Tank

Please help solve this problem: A supply tank requires a vaporizer to generate sufficient pressure to pump stored fluid up into a vehicle or tank. The available head is limited as the tank level falls and it is important to minimize the system pressure drop to maintain the desired flow...

Using MLI on VJ Line Joints or Cryo Storage Tanks

When installing Multi Layer Insulation (MLI) blankets on VJ line joints or cryo storage tanks should they be wrapped and tied down tight or loose? These are usually pre-cut to size. Also should they have an access hole at the point of where the molecular sieve is installed to help...

Separated layers of ice over a pipe

I want to know that why there are different layers of ice over a pipe carrying a cryogenic fluid, each layer separated with clear marks / lines? What do these layers signify?

Using nitrogen as a cryogen

Is it possible to achieve -200˚C using nitrogen as a cryogen?

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