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Report on ICCR2013 in Hangzhou, China

Held at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, April 6-9, the 5th International Conference on Cryogenics and Refrigeration (ICCR2013) attracted more than 330 participants from 17 nations and areas, with 220 papers presented.

Inside Fermilab’s New Strand and Cable R&D Lab

The mission of the Superconducting Strand and Cable R&D program is to understand and improve scientific and engineering aspects of superconducting strands and cables for accelerator magnets, including dipoles, quadrupoles and solenoids. Since 1998, the lab has also served as the ideal experimental environment for 30 graduate students in physics...

Cold Facts Tours NHMFL, ASC and CAPS

In February of this year, CSA was invited to the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (CSA CSM) at Florida State University to tour its facilities and meet key personnel at the forefront of cryogenic and superconducting technology at the lab. On our tour we were taken behind the scenes to...

Does Cryogenic Electronics Have a Role in Electric Power? 

Electric power systems—whether for electric utilities or on ships, airplanes or automobiles—require electronic power circuitry to change voltage levels and to convert between DC and AC, as well as for controlling power delivery. The use of superconductivity and cryogenics for motors, generators, energy storage and power distribution leads naturally to...

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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...

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...