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Improving the Efficiency of Helium Transfer Tubes

One must, on a daily basis, transfer liquefied gases, most notably helium from large static tanks or dewars to smaller transportable vessels. This process can become costly due to the losses sustained during transfer, which must be compensated for by reliquefying helium, requiring between 2 and 5 kW per liquid...

MiniCLEAN detector begins search for dark matter

Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, after eight years of designing and building, have begun commissioning and cooling the MiniCLEAN detector, a small experiment with the big goal of detecting dark matter. CLEAN stands for Cryogenic Low-Energy Astrophysics with Nobles. Scientists will use the detector to search for weakly interacting...

Air Liquide expands its business in Turkey

Air Liquide advanced Technologies expanded its foothold in Turkey on September 15 with the acquisition of Messer Aligaz Sanayi Gazlari, a subsidiary of industrial gas company Messer Group GmbH. Messer Aligaz provides industrial, medical and specialty gases to a range of industries in Turkey. The company owns and operates an...

Researchers observe dynamic Mott transition in superconductors

An international team of researchers, including the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Twente in The Netherlands and the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory (CSA CSM), has announced the first observation of a dynamic Mott transition in a superconductor. The discovery experimentally connects the worlds of...

FDA accepts BioCision’s ThawSTAR master file

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this month accepted the Device Master File (MAF) submission for BioCision's ThawSTAR automated cell thawing system. The ThawSTAR MAF encompasses information pertaining to the specifications, materials and quality and manufacturing processes used in producing the ThawSTAR system.

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Helium-3

Helium-3 (3He) is one of the two stable isotopes of helium. The other is the much more common Helium-4 (4He). Neither of these isotopes should be confused with He II, which is the second liquid phase of 4He. He II was discussed in this column in the Spring 2010 edition...

Cryopumping

Cryopumping refers to the use of cryogenic temperatures to produce vacuum in enclosed spaces. More broadly, it can also refer to the removal of gases via cryogenic temperatures from a flow stream or enclosure without necessarily resulting in vacuum pressures. This is an important application of cryogenics and is used...

Thermal Acoustic Oscillations

Thermal Acoustic Oscillations (TAO) are a common event in cryogenic systems that can have significant adverse effects on the performance of the system. TAOs are sustained pressure oscillations that can occur in tubes containing gas, closed at one end (the warm end) that have a very large temperature gradient along...

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...

Primary Standards

Elie K. Track Hypres, Inc. elie@hypres.com http://www.hypres.com/ Primary standards involve the exact definition and realization of units of measurement for various quantities, time, length, mass, voltage, resistance, current, etc. International agreements based on the latest scientific knowledge define those units, and their realizations vary depending on the unit itself. For...

Shrink Fitting

Robin A. Rhodes Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. rrhodes@nitrofreeze.com Shrink fitting, (or “compression fitting” as it is sometimes called), is a method used to insert a pin or bushing into a housing or other assembly requiring an extremely tight tolerance fit. It can be used as an alternative to...

Telecommunications

From the Winter 2004 issue of Cold Facts magazine The recent M-Calc IV — 4th Industry Assessment workshop discussing military and commercial applications for low-cost cryocoolers, held in November in San Diego, highlighted progress being made in cryogenics as applied in telecommunications. The reliability and long lifetime of projects now...

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...