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Vacuum pumps like never before… in LEGO® Form!

Vacuum technology is essential to the modern world—especially for fields like cryogenics, semiconductor manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and environmental engineering. Yet for all their significance, vacuum pumps are rarely seen outside of labs and industrial settings. Now, Leybold is taking a novel approach to spotlighting these critical machines—by turning them into LEGO®...

Honoring This Year’s Women in Cryo 2025

The Cryogenic Society of America and Cold Facts celebrates distinguished women who embody the expertise and drive that is putting cryogenics and superconductivity at the forefront of energy, aerospace, quantum, and myriad other fields of industry. Congratulations!  Iqra Azam Vera Hansper Jennifer Hennis Tamanna Joshi Nora Juhasz Susan Magi Kayla Rajsky Tara...

BS&B Safety Systems Accelerates Service to OEMs

OEMs in virtually every market, from aerospace and automotive to refrigeration and fire protection, rely on rupture disk devices for pressure relief and pressure release of gases and liquids. The challenge of time faces all product designers; how do we get a custom solution in an acceptable timeframe? Now, at least...

The Cryomech PT205: A Compact Cryocooler with a Wide Range of Applications

In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, the demand for efficient and compact cryocoolers is more critical than ever. A wide range of applications increasingly require high performance cooling systems that can seamlessly integrate into limited spaces. Smaller cryocoolers prove invaluable in these contexts, offering the precision and reliability necessary to...

CO2Meter’s Critical Gas Safety Solution

CO2Meter has long been recognized for its remote oxygen depletion safety alarm, which warns staff before they enter areas with dangerously low oxygen levels caused by pressurized gas leaks. Pressurizing a gas in a tank or cylinder provides a convenient way to transport and store it. Flower shops use helium cylinders...

Jefferson Lab Dedicates Niobium-Tin Particle Accelerator Prototype

More than 30 of the world’s most advanced particle accelerators rely on one technology: superconducting radio-frequency (SRF). This technology, typically powered by pure niobium metal, has seen recent advancements with the introduction of niobium-tin alloys, which promise greater efficiency. The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility...

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Regenerators

Regenerators or regenerative heat exchangers are a key component of cryocoolers such as pulse tube cryocoolers (Cold Facts, August 2014). Regenerator performance greatly affects the coefficient of performance of cryocoolers. Improvements in regenerator design and, in particular, regenerator materials have been an important factor in the improvement of the performance...

Pulse Tube Cryocoolers

The development of pulse tube cryocoolers has been a significant topic of research and development over the past 20 or so years. Pulse tube cryocoolers have a number of advantages over other types of cryocoolers and are now available commercially. In order to understand pulse tube cryocoolers, it’s best to...

Thermal Expansion

Thermal expansion refers to the change in size (length or volume) that a material undergoes as its temperature changes. In cryogenic systems this effect can be quite large and must be allowed for in the design. In isotropic materials, which include most engineering materials, the thermal expansion is the same...

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...

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...