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Manufacturers Complete Cryogenic Tank Delivery to ITER

European manufacturers have delivered the last of the 11 cryogenic tanks contracted for the cryoplant at ITER. The manufacturing of all components was undertaken by Air Liquide advanced Technologies (CSA CSM) and its subcontractors, while logistics were handled by DAHER. The ITER fusion machine will require a massive refrigerator to...

Celebrate Dark Matter Day

On October 31, 2017, institutions worldwide will celebrate Dark Matter Day with events highlighting the experiments that could bring us closer to solving the cosmic riddle of dark matter. The Interactions Collaboration, an international community of particle physics communication specialists, is the celebration's sponsor. Information on local events is available...

MagLab Awarded DOE Grant to Develop New SRF Cavities

The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab, CSA CSM) is playing a role in a nationwide effort to make human-scale particle accelerators for a host of applications. And now, with a $1 million grant from the US Department of Energy, scientists at the lab's Applied Superconductivity Center (ASC) are developing...

Advancing Tissue Engineering with 3-D Cryoprinting

The importance of additive manufacturing (AM) and 3-D printing has increased in almost every field of engineering, including biomedical engineering, a field where researchers are advancing applications such as 3-D cryoprinting. The technology is poised to develop into an important step in tissue engineering as it can produce biological tissues...

NASA Awards Funding to Support Professional Development Programs for STEM Educators

NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland has awarded approximately $125,000 to schools and organizations to launch professional development programs for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) educators. The award is intended to strengthen STEM programs for K-12 teachers across Ohio through the use of NASA content. The grant also includes...

Quantum Data Takes a Ride on Sound Waves

Yale scientists have created a device that uses sound waves to store quantum information and convert it from one form to another, all inside a single integrated chip. The device allows a superconducting artificial atom, or qubit, to exchange energy and quantum information with a high-frequency bulk acoustic wave resonator....

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Joule-Thomson Effect

The Joule-Thomson (JT) effect is a thermodynamic process that occurs when a fluid expands from high pressure to low pressure at constant enthalpy (an isenthalpic process). Such a process can be approximated in the real world by expanding a fluid from high pressure to low pressure across a valve. Under...

Current Leads

One of the challenges of using superconducting magnets is the connection of the magnet to a room temperature power supply. This is accomplished via current leads. The trick is that current leads should ideally have a low heat leak, since they connect room temperature to cryogenic temperature, while at the...

Multilayer Insulation

Multilayer insulation (also referred to as superinsulation) is a key component in the reduction of heat leak to cryogenic systems due to thermal radiation. MLI consists of a series of uncooled reflective surfaces placed in the vacuum space between two surfaces, one warmer than the other. Generally speaking, for ideal...

Latest in Cryo Central

Magnets

From “Superconductivity: Present and Future Applications” by the Coalition for the Commercial Application of Superconductors. Particle physics uses accelerators to recreate the conditions of the early universe in an attempt to piece together the complex puzzle of how we got to where we are today. These huge machines are used...

Energy Storage

From “Superconductivity: Present and Future Applications” by the Coalition for the Commercial Application of Superconductors. With power lines increasingly congested and prone to instability, strategic injection of brief bursts of real power can play a crucial role in maintaining grid reliability. Small-scale Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) systems, based on...

Astronomy

ASTRONOMY IN SPACE by Peter V. Mason, retired, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Visiting Associate, California Institute of Technology. Pmason@alumni.caltech.edu In thinking about the reasons to perform astronomy in space, we first consider the effect of the earth’s atmosphere. On a scale of decreasing energy, gamma rays, cosmic rays, X-rays and...

Cryocoolers

What is a Cryocooler? A mechanism that can extract heat from an object (cooler) and by doing so draw its temperature down below approximately 150 Kelvin (cryo). — (Courtesy Dr. Willy Gully) What is the difference between a Cryocooler and a Cryostat? A cryostat is any device designed to maintain...

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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