Cold Facts Digital – The go-to place for Cryogenics and Superconductivity

SC study’s reported successes and failures provide valuable data

In their paper "Exploration of new superconductors and functional materials, and fabrication of superconducting tapes and wires of iron pnictides" published in Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, researchers report on four years of extensive research on around 1,000 materials, with detailed insights learned from the new superconducting materials discovered...

LHC arrives at the next energy frontier

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is collecting data again for the first time in two years. After powering back on in April and seeing its first record-energy collisions in May, the LHC began colliding particles at a steady rate to provide data for research on June 3. During Run II,...

GTI’s David Carroll assumes presidency of IGU

On June 5, David Carroll, Gas Technology Institute (GTI) president and CEO, assumed the additional role of president of the International Gas Union (IGU) for a three-year term at the closing ceremony of the World Gas Conference in Paris. With the growth of natural gas in the global energy landscape,...

Protons in LHC collide at record-breaking 13 TeV

On May 20, protons collided in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at a record-breaking energy of 13 TeV for the first time. CERN has released images showing the protons colliding and sending showers of particles through the ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb detectors.

CUORE experiment will study neutrinos with world’s coldest detector

Researchers at Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy are using the world's coldest detector to find an incredibly rare neutrino decay process. To conduct the experiment, the Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE), the team will create the single coldest cubic meter in the universe in order to search...

Discovery of new state of matter could lead to higher temperature superconductors

An international research team led by Kosmas Prassides of Tohoku University has reported the discovery of a new state of matter that could lead to higher temperature superconductors. This new state of matter, called the Jahn-Teller metal, was discovered during the study of the superconducting pairing mechanism in a new...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Cold Compressors

A common way to provide cooling below the normal boiling point of helium (4.2K) is to reduce the pressure above the bath of liquid helium, thus also reducing the bath’s equilibrium saturation temperature. For example, to produce a 1.8K bath of liquid helium, the saturation pressure has to be reduced...

Kapitza Conductance

Kapitza conductance refers to the heat transfer between a solid surface and a fluid that covers that surface. Fundamentally, it describes the inherent difficulty in transferring energy from a solid to the fluid covering the solid surface. This phenomenon was first observed by P. L. Kapitza in 1941 while studying...

Thermosyphons

A thermosyphon (or thermosiphon) is a device that transfers heat via natural convection in a fluid. The natural convection is driven by gravity with the colder, denser fluid flowing downhill and the warmer, less dense fluid flowing back up. Thus, thermosyphons connect an object to be cooled with a reservoir...

Latest in Cryo Central

Cryogenic Electronics

Randall Kirschman, consulting physicist, Mountain View, California ExtElect@gmail.com Cryogenic electronics—the operation of electronic devices, circuits, and systems at cryogenic temperatures—has been a valuable technology for decades. Cryogenic electronics (also referred to as low-temperature electronics, or cold electronics) can be based on semiconductive devices, on superconductive devices, or on a combination...

Particle Physics: High Energy Physics

Cryogenics and High-Energy Physics 1. From symmetry magazine: http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/cms/?pid=1000627: Cryogenics is the study of how materials behave at temperatures near absolute zero. In high-energy particle accelerators, such frigid temperatures reduce the electrical resistance of wires in superconducting magnets, increasing the magnet strength and allowing faster particle acceleration. The same holds...

HTS Degaussing Systems

From the Spring 2009 issue of Cold Facts (Volume 25, Number 2): Thanks to a joint project by the US Navy and a number of industry partners, high temperature superconducting (HTS) technology is now at the heart of an advanced degaussing system aboard the USS Higgins at the naval station...

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

From http://www.superconductors.org: An area where superconductors can perform a life-saving function is in the field of biomagnetism. Doctors need a non-invasive means of determining what’s going on inside the human body. By impinging a strong superconductor-derived magnetic field into the body, hydrogen atoms that exist in the body’s water and...

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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