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A Half Century of Cryogenics and CSA

"1964 seems just like yesterday to me, yet it was 50 years ago. The Cryogenic Society of America was born that year, and I was just beginning my professional career in cryogenics." Dr. Ray Radebaugh reviews some of the industry's and CSA's major advances from 1964 to the present.

CSA Awards and Recognitions over the Years

CSA's first award was named for Robert W. Vance, who was one of the guiding lights who was present at the founding and kept the society going through some rough times.

Cryocoolers to Monitor Global Surface Temperatures from Space

The Cryocooler Development and Engineering Group at Airbus Defence and Space, formerly known as Astrium, has delivered the first of two space cryocooler systems, scheduled to launch in mid-2015 on the European Space Agency’s twin Sentinel 3 satellites.

The Rebirth of CSA

In 1984, 20 years after its founding, the Cryogenic Society of America was re-incorporated in the state of Illinois under new leadership. President Romuald (Ray) Szara explained the changes in a letter to the membership quoted in Vol. 1, No. 1 of the new CSA magazine, Cold Facts.

The Birth of CSA

The Cryogenic Society of America was founded in 1964. David Carse, the first national President of CSA, traced the “history” of the newly formed body in his article “Cryo Comment,” published in Volume 1, No. 1 of the society’s journal, Cryogenic Technology.

Report on World Congress of the ISC

The 17th World Congress of the International Society of Cryosurgery was held in Bali, Indonesia, last December. At the opening ceremony, Prof. Dr. Akmal Taher, Sp.U(K), Director General of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia, welcomed the delegates. A total of 109 delegates from four continents attended...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Space Cryogenics

Space cryogenics is, somewhat obviously, the application of cryogenics to space exploration and science. The use of cryogenics in space optimizes the launching of vehicles, provides power and life support to spacecraft and is critical for many scientific observations.Space cryogenics has a number of challenges and has driven both pure...

Exergy

The science of thermodynamics plays a major role in cryogenics. It underlies the various refrigeration cycles, from Carnot to Brayton (Cold Facts Vol. 32 No. 2) and Joule-Thomson, is a fundamental part of the definition of terms such as coefficient of performance (Cold Facts Vol. 31 No. 1) and even...

Cryogenic Treatment

Cryogenic treatment is the process of cooling materials to cryogenic temperatures temporarily to improve their material properties at room temperature. This is distinct from cooling materials down to cryogenic temperatures to take advantage of phenomena such as superconductivity that only occur at cryogenic temperatures. Cryogenic treatment, sometimes also referred to...

Latest in Cryo Central

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...

Cryogenic Treatment of Materials

F.J. Diekman Controlled Thermal Processing, Inc. info@metal-wear.com Cryogenic Processing (also called cryogenic treatment, and incorrectly “cryogenic tempering”) is a process that uses cryogenic temperatures to modify materials to enhance their performance. Cryogenic Processing involves the slow reduction in temperature of the material to at least -300°F (-185°C) and holding the...

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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