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NASA Invests in Aerospace Technology Development

NASA has selected eight technology proposals for investment that have the potential to transform future aerospace missions, introduce new capabilities and significantly improve current approaches to building and operating aerospace systems. This year’s portfolio addresses a range of leading-edge concepts, including a method to produce “solar white” coatings for scattering...

IBM Looks to the Cloud for Quantum Computing

IBM scientists have built a quantum computer system that users can access through the cloud on any desktop or mobile device to run algorithms and experiments. It's called the IBM Quantum Experience and it's powered by quantum processors with five superconducting qubits. Signals are sent in and out of a...

Electrons Trapped in Liquid Helium Show Promise as Quantum Bits

A team of researchers from the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory (CSA CSM) and Yale University has developed a method to trap and manipulate electrons, opening the door for using the particles as quantum bits. Electrons represent an ideal quantum bit, according to the team, with a "spin" that...

NASA Releases Dozens of Patents into Public Domain

NASA has released 56 formerly patented agency technologies into the public domain, making its government developed technologies freely available for unrestricted commercial use. Additionally, a searchable database is also available that catalogs thousands of expired NASA patents already in the public domain.

Cryogenically Cooled Heat Pipes Used for Refrigeration

Scientists at Brunel University London, in collaboration with Air Products PLC, have engineered a new method to build freezers using advanced cryogenically cooled heat pipe technology. The units, capable of reaching temperatures as low as -180 °C, are likely to be used for medical storage, cooling and storing samples ranging...

Fermilab Breaks Ground on Short-Baseline Near Detector Building

Fermilab broke ground on April 27 on the building that will house the future Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND). The particle detector is one of three that scientists will use to search for the sterile neutrino, a hypothesized particle that scientists say could not only increase understanding for neutrinos already known,...

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

Cryogenics in Space

Peter Kittel University of California-Berkeley pkittel@cal.berkeley.edu Space Cryogenics is the application of cryogenics to space missions. These applications fall into two broad areas, supporting space science missions and supporting the space transportation infrastructure. Science applications: The atmosphere is opaque to much of the electro-magnetic spectrum. In space, the absence of...

Cryosurgery

Review of Cryosurgery Boris Rubinsky, PhD Hebrew University School of Science and Engineering Research Center for Biomedical Engineering 78b Ross Building Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904 Israel rubinsky@cs.huji.ac.il as published in Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, August 2000, Vol. 2, pp. 157-187. Abstract: Cryosurgery is a surgical technique that employs freezing...

Liquefied Natural Gas

Liquefied Natural Gas as it relates to the Field of Cryogenics John W. Bonn VJ Systems, LLC johnbonn@vjsystems-lic.com Today the world is looking for a cleaner fuel and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plays a large part in achieving this goal. LNG in a liquid form is at -162°C (-259°F) and...

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...

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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