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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...

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Refrigerators and Liquefiers

Two of the most common terms used in cryogenics are “refrigerator” and “liquefier.” These terms describe similar and, as will be seen, in some cases identical components. A refrigerator provides cooling (that is, absorbs heat) at cryogenic temperatures. Refrigerators typically put a working fluid (such as helium) through one of...

Air Separation

Air separation is one of the largest, as well as earliest, industrial applications of cryogenics. In this process, cryogenic temperatures are used to separate air into its constituent gases: nitrogen (78.08%), oxygen (20.95%), argon (0.93%) and carbon dioxide (0.3%). Trace gases such as krypton, neon, xenon and helium total far...

Coefficient of Performance and Figure of Merit

The coefficient of performance (COP) is used to describe the effectiveness of refrigerators, including those operating at cryogenic temperatures. The COP is defined as the amount of heat removed at the cryogenic operating temperature of the refrigerator divided by the amount of work that must be applied to remove the...

Wind Tunnels

Dr. Robert Kilgore The development of the cryogenic wind tunnel is one of many significant breakthroughs in both cryogenics and wind-tunnel technology made during the past millennium. Interest in the development of high-speed commercial and military aircraft resulted in a review of problems of flow simulation in transonic wind tunnels...

History of Cryogenics

From the Fall 1999 issue of Cold Facts magazine Millennium Breakthroughs A variety of CSA members give different perspectives on the past millennium: What were the most significant breakthroughs in cryogenics during the past millennium? Prof. R.G. Scurlock, Kryos Technology, scurlock@soton.ac.uk (“Breakthrough” = way through obstacles — Oxford English Dictionary)...

Cryobiology

Andreas Sputtek Past President Society for Cryobiology sputtek@uke.uni-hamburg.de or http://www.sputtek.de/. The word cryobiology (from the Greek words “cryo” = cold, “bios” = life, and “logos” = science) literally signifies the science of life at low temperatures. In practice, this field comprises the study of any biological material or system (e.g.,...

Cryogenic Insulation

James E. Fesmire Cryogenics Test Laboratory NASA Kennedy Space Center james.e.fesmire@nasa.gov Introduction In today’s world, the use of cryogenics and low-temperature refrigeration is taking a more and more significant role. From the food industry, transportation, energy, and medical applications to the Space Shuttle, cryogenic liquids must be stored, handled, and...

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...