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

The patented Cryostat-the-First (CS1) insulation test apparatus, of the original NASA CTL, in 1998. Credit: Fesmire

Remembering Dr. Stan Augustynowicz, a Cryogenics Pioneer

Stanisław (“Stan”) was my mentor, business partner, and dear friend. He was a distinguished colleague, a visionary trailblazer, and a true leader in cryogenics. Stan played a pivotal role in the Cryogenic Society of America as Director of International Affairs and Board Member, and he served as VP-USA for the...

HyPStore project team at the University of Southern Queensland. Credit: HyPStore

HyPStore’s Cryogenics-at-the-Core Vision for Liquid Hydrogen Storage

As global industries push toward decarbonization, hydrogen has re-emerged as a promising energy carrier. From aviation to long-haul trucking, hydrogen offers a zero-carbon fuel alternative that could reshape mobility. But unlocking its full potential depends on solving one of its biggest hurdles: storage. Hydrogen is challenging to contain, particularly in...

Techno-Economics of Liquid Hydrogen Supply for Australian Antarctic Operations

Antarctic research productivity relies on consistent access to energy. Increased availability of cheaper and cleaner energy could enhance the research capacity at Antarctic stations and expand the frequency of research flights using aircraft such as the Basler BT-67 (a modified DC3) to map climate change impacts on glaciers. The Australian...

Meet the 2025 Young Professionals

Qian Bao, 37 What is your educational and professional background? I completed my undergraduate studies in Mechanical Engineering at Shanghai Jiaotong University, China. Following that, I earned my Master’s degree from Tohoku University in Japan, where my research focused on computational fluid dynamics simulations involving two-phase flow. Specifically, I worked...

Superconductivity Mystery: Scientists Challenge a 50-Year Theory of Electron Behavior

A recent study found that the Hubbard model failed to accurately predict the behavior of a simplified one-dimensional cuprate system. According to scientists at SLAC, this suggests the model is unlikely to fully account for high-temperature superconductivity in two-dimensional cuprates. Superconductivity—the ability of materials to conduct electricity without energy loss—holds...

IBM to Invest $150 Billion in U.S. Over Next Five Years to Aid Quantum Push

IBM has announced plans to invest $150 billion in the United States over the next five years, marking one of the most significant commitments by a major tech company to bolster American manufacturing and emerging technologies. A substantial portion of this investment, over $30 billion, will be directed specifically toward...

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

Cryogenic Electronics

Randall Kirschman, consulting physicist, Mountain View, California ExtElect@gmail.com Cryogenic electronics—the operation of electronic devices, circuits, and systems at cryogenic temperatures—has been a valuable technology for decades. Cryogenic electronics (also referred to as low-temperature electronics, or cold electronics) can be based on semiconductive devices, on superconductive devices, or on a combination...

Particle Physics: High Energy Physics

Cryogenics and High-Energy Physics 1. From symmetry magazine: http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/cms/?pid=1000627: Cryogenics is the study of how materials behave at temperatures near absolute zero. In high-energy particle accelerators, such frigid temperatures reduce the electrical resistance of wires in superconducting magnets, increasing the magnet strength and allowing faster particle acceleration. The same holds...

HTS Degaussing Systems

From the Spring 2009 issue of Cold Facts (Volume 25, Number 2): Thanks to a joint project by the US Navy and a number of industry partners, high temperature superconducting (HTS) technology is now at the heart of an advanced degaussing system aboard the USS Higgins at the naval station...

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

From http://www.superconductors.org: An area where superconductors can perform a life-saving function is in the field of biomagnetism. Doctors need a non-invasive means of determining what’s going on inside the human body. By impinging a strong superconductor-derived magnetic field into the body, hydrogen atoms that exist in the body’s water and...

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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