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

Frozen Aliens and Superpowers

Liquid nitrogen is cool. That’s a classic pun, but it’s also true. Liquid nitrogen is dramatic and a little bit dangerous, and its startling effects on everyday objects are immediate, making it a fantastic tool for science education and outreach.

LHC experiments join forces to zoom in on the Higgs boson

For the first time, CERN's ATLAS and CMS have presented a combination of their results on the mass of the Higgs boson--on March 17, 2015, during the 50th session of “Rencontres de Moriond” in La Thuile Italy. The combined mass of the Higgs boson corresponds to a measurement precision of...

Neutrons provide first images of refrigerant flow

Using noninvasive techniques, researchers at DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have captured undistorted snapshots of refrigerants flowing through small heat exchangers, helping to further elucidate characteristics of heat transfer.

When temperature goes quantum

A University of Arizona-led collaboration of physicists and chemists has discovered that temperature behaves in strange and unexpected ways in graphene, a material that has great potential for new technological devices ranging from computing to medicine.

Review gives green light to pursue ITER cryostat manufacturing

Later this year, in mid-September, the first batch of the 54 segments of the ITER cryostat (the huge vacuum chamber that insulates the superconducting magnets of the machine) will leave the Larsen & Toubro factory in Hazira, India, to be delivered to the ITER site for welding and assembly.

Scientists to celebrate 20th anniversary of top quark discovery at Fermilab

From April 9-10, the particle physicists community will commemorate the 1995 discovery of the top quark, the heaviest subatomic particle ever observed, with a workshop to be held at Fermilab.

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

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...

Latest in Cryo Central

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...

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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