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

CSA Board Member Joins Superconductivity Center at FSU

Florida State University has hired Lance Cooley, CSA board member and a scientist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (CSA CSM), to join the Applied Superconductivity Center (ASC) at the FSU-based National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. He will also have a faculty appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at...

Physicists Observe Negative Mass in Bose-Einstein Condensate

Washington State University physicists have created a fluid with negative mass. Push it, and unlike every physical object in the known world, it doesn’t accelerate in the direction it was pushed. It accelerates backward. Led by Peter Engels, WSU professor of physics and astronomy, the researchers generated the conditions for...

O”H” What a Feeling, Toyota Introduces Hydrogen Powered Semi

Toyota has announced a new zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell system designed for semi-truck use at the Port of Los Angeles. Dubbed "Project Portal," the proof of concept vehicle was unveiled at a press conference with port officials and representatives from the California Air Resources Board and the California Energy Commission....

European XFEL Commissions Its Particle Accelerator

The European XFEL has successfully commissioned the particle accelerator that will drive its X-ray laser. When fully operational, the research facility will produce up to 27,000 X-ray laser flashes per second, each so short and intense that researchers can make pictures of structures and processes at the atomic level. The...

ICHEP Publishes 2016 Proceedings

Professor Young-Kee Kim, chair of ICHEP 2016 and professor of physics at the University of Chicago, has announced that proceedings from the high energy physics conference have been published online. The proceedings are organized by session topic and include full PDFs from presenters and research teams.

Microsoft and Rambus Extend Cryogenic Memory Collaboration

Microsoft and Rambus Inc. have expanded a research collaboration begun in 2015 to develop prototype systems that optimize computer memory performance at cryogenic temperatures. The new agreement extends joint efforts to enhance memory capabilities, reduce energy consumption and improve overall system performance.

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

Food Processing

Cryogenics and Food The industrial gas industry provides a host of products and services related to food. The various gases have useful and sometimes fascinating applications in food industry. “The food industry is not a homogenous industry. The needs of customers processing hamburger vs. poultry vs. strawberries vs. seafood, for...

Primary Standards

Elie K. Track Hypres, Inc. elie@hypres.com http://www.hypres.com/ Primary standards involve the exact definition and realization of units of measurement for various quantities, time, length, mass, voltage, resistance, current, etc. International agreements based on the latest scientific knowledge define those units, and their realizations vary depending on the unit itself. For...

Shrink Fitting

Robin A. Rhodes Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. rrhodes@nitrofreeze.com Shrink fitting, (or “compression fitting” as it is sometimes called), is a method used to insert a pin or bushing into a housing or other assembly requiring an extremely tight tolerance fit. It can be used as an alternative to...

Telecommunications

From the Winter 2004 issue of Cold Facts magazine The recent M-Calc IV — 4th Industry Assessment workshop discussing military and commercial applications for low-cost cryocoolers, held in November in San Diego, highlighted progress being made in cryogenics as applied in telecommunications. The reliability and long lifetime of projects now...

Latest in Ask the Experts

Presence of alloying elements in tool steels

I want to expand my knowledge of cryogenics in general and tool steels in particular. Specifically, I am keenly interested in learning about the presence of alloying elements in tool steels and how their presence in various combinations affects the performance of tool steels after cryogenic treatment.

Pros and cons of barcoding samples

I was wondering if I could ask for input on pros and cons of barcoding. We are in the process of trying to decide if we should start barcoding our samples and I’m just not sure if this is feasible for our organization. We have numerous sites all over the...

Purity level of helium gas stream in cryo plant purification system

I would like to know what the principal methods and the relative instrumentation to check the purity level of helium gas stream in the purification system of a common helium cryogenic plant are. What principles are these instruments based on? And what are their principal characteristics?

LN2 for cryopreservation through controlled rate freezing of samples

I am the cryogenic specialist for a stem cell bank in Greece. I am trying to find the minimum requirements (purity, humidity, etc.) of liquid nitrogen for cryopreservation through controlled rate freezing of biological samples.

CATEGORIES