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2015 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to neutrino oscillation experimenters

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on October 6 awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics to Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald in recognition of key contributions each made to experiments demonstrating neutrino oscillations. Physicists struggled for decades prior to Kajita's and McDonald's experiments to explain why up to...

CONCOA opens new facility in Taiwan

CONCOA has opened its second marketing facility and product support center in the Pacific region, an area the firm sees as strategic for investment and trade. Located in the greater Taipei area, the new facility supports business partners in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macao, South Korea and Taiwan.

ITER superconductor production nears completion

The single largest superconductor procurement in industrial history is drawing to a successful close. An eight-year campaign to produce the superconductors for ITER's powerful magnet systems is in its final stages, with nearly 70 percent of the conductor units lengths accepted by the ITER Organization.

Fermilab powers up electromagnet dormant for a decade

Fermilab announced September 23 that scientists there have successfully brought a fragile, expensive and complex 17-ton electromagnet back to life, cooling it down to -450°F and then powering it up. The ring is the centerpiece of an experiment to probe the mysteries of the universe with subatomic particles called muons....

Magnolia LNG awards $40 million for liquefaction equipment

Magnolia LNG, a subsidiary company of Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, announced on September 22 that it had awarded $40 million in contracts to Chart Industries, Inc., for a mid-scale LNG project at Lake Charles LA. Chart will initially deliver two identical trains, each with a nominal LNG production capacity of...

DOE posts new Women@Energy profiles

The Department of Energy recently updated its Women@Energy webpage to include new profiles on researchers working at its national laboratories. There are now over 250 profiles on the page, each celebrating a woman who works in a STEM field. The new profiles include female scientists working at Jefferson Lab (CSM)...

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

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...

Latest in Ask the Experts

Benefit of cryotreatment of audio circuit boards and interconnecting cables

Does cryotreatment of audio circuit boards and interconnecting cables (copper, silver, gold) properly done, provide a permanent benefit?

Standards and codes for design of cryogenic equipment?

What standards and codes are used in the design of cryogenic equipment?

Cryogenic thermophysical property data

I am in search of information regarding cryogenic thermophysical property data, specifically, Thermal Conductivity, Thermal Expansion, Stiffness and Modulus, in the 20K range. My list of materials include: Ti-6AL-4V (ELI), Al 6061-T651, and Invar (36%, plus any other composition which might have data available). Other materials which would be helpful...

Issue with insulation for ventilation system

I am with the Goodrich Corporation, an Aerospace products manufacturer. We currently utilize a number of environmental chambers (LN2 based) for environmental type conformity testing.

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