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Undergrads Construct Cryogenic Star-Tracking Instrument

A team of undergraduates from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) will soon deploy its Cryogenic Star Tracking Attitude Regulation System, a telescope and camera based “compass” for rockets that will orient the payload based on the images of stars. CSTARS uses a new kind of detector technology and will...

19th International Cryocooler Conference

A group of 180 researchers and engineers from 12 countries gathered in San Diego June 20-23 for the 19th International Cryocooler Conference (ICC19), coordinated by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and held at the Town and Country Resort and Convention Center. The conference included a combination of 80 oral...

LIGO Collaboration Prepares Cryogenic Update

In the past year, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) has twice observed gravitational waves from the merger of black holes in deep space. Thermal noise, however, limits how small a motion the system can detect. In order to address this issue, and thus take the next big step in...

SCW Student Scholarship Established

CSA has established the T.H.K. Frederking Space Cryogenics Workshop (SCW) Student Scholarship, an award honoring our first CSA Fellow, Dr. Traugott Frederking, who generously sponsored selected students to attend SCW to help develop their technical maturity by exposing them to current leaders and emerging developments in the field.

Experts Engineer New Cryostat Design Volume

The proper design of cryostats requires knowledge of many disciplines including: cryogenic properties of materials, heat transfer and thermal insulation, instrumentation, safety, structures and seals. One of the best ways to learn about cryostat design is to study the design choices and resulting performance of previous designs. This book provides...

Technifab Restructures, Announces Three Divisions

Technifab Products, Inc. (CSA CSM) has announced organizational changes, segmenting its business into three distinct divisions—Technifab Cryogenics, Technifab CNC Manufacturing and Technifab Cryodewars.

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

Magnetic Levitation

From http://www.superconductors.org. Magnetic-levitation is an application where superconductors perform extremely well. Transport vehicles such as trains can be made to “float” on strong superconducting magnets, virtually eliminating friction between the train and its tracks. Not only would conventional electromagnets waste much of the electrical energy as heat, they would have...

Superconductivity

From Superpower website. History of Superconductivity Superconductivity was discovered in 1911 by the Dutch physicist, Heike Kammerlingh Onnes when he was able to liquefy helium by cooling it to 4 Kelvin, or -452°F. This enabled him to cool other materials close to absolute zero and investigate their electrical properties. He...

Medical Applications of Cryogenics

Neutron Therapy Cryogenics is at the heart of nuclear accelerators. Accelerators such as Fermilab’s Tevatron make neutron therapy for cancer possible. From Fermilab Today 4/20/09: Fermilab currently offers neutron therapy. But staff at Fermilab designed and built the proton accelerator used by the nation’s first hospital-based treatment center to use...

Nuclear Physics

Al Zeller National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab (NSCL) at Michigan State University zeller@nscl.msu.edu Cryogenics has a long history in nuclear physics. The technology has its origins in the use of cold traps for maintaining a vacuum, which is required to prevent beam loss and for generating high voltages used in acceleration....

Latest in Ask the Experts

Suppliers of regenerator materials

I was looking for suppliers of regenerator materials. Can you please provide a list of vendors for: • Lead spheres • Bronze screen discs • Rare earth materials and spheres Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

Containing ice accumulation while recovering helium

We are implementing a system to recover helium from our Janis ST-500 continuous flow LHe cryostat. The recovery system uses standard 1/4″ plastic tubing, which we connect directly to the cryostat’s exhaust port. The problem with this setup is that the gas is still quite cold as it leaves the...

Looking for some advice regarding cryogenic modeling in ANSYS FEA software

I am looking for some advice regarding cryogenic modeling in ANSYS FEA software. I have been trying to use the Transient Thermal module, in workbench 14.5, to model the cooling of a device in a dilution fridge. I have approximate values for the cooling power of each plate in the...

Compensators and/or accumulators: Are they used in cryogenics?

Are compensators and/or accumulators, high or low pressure, used in cryogenics? Are they used in space?

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