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

The Next Niobium Goal: Medium-Field SRF Cavities with High Quality Factor

In his guest column, Dr. Lance Cooley writes, "We are now beginning to evolve our present knowledge about producing high-gradient cavities to take on goals of high-Q CW cavities. The starting point for this transition is clearly to explore simple adaptations of the present ILC process. But it is not...

American College of Cryosurgery Holds Annual Meeting

The American College of Cryosurgery, founded in 1977, hosted its first meeting January 2-7, 2013, after a hiatus of nearly ten years. The meeting venues provided a unique experience for participants and accompanying guests. A land-based session was held at the Hyatt Regency Downtown Miami Hotel.

Donnelly Team Designs Cryogenic Remediation of Power Pollutants

Professor John M. Pfotenhauer writes, "The fields of low temperature physics and energy and environment do not frequently interact. Imagine my astonishment to find in the 2010 spring edition of a newsletter from the Department of Physics at my graduate school, the University of Oregon, that my thesis advisor from...

Cryo Community Mourns Donna Jung, International Cryogenics

It is with great regret that we report the sudden death of Donna Jung, President of International Cryogenics, on February 1, 2013. Jung was a leader in the cryogenic community, president of a longtime CSA Corporate Sustaining Member company, and a stalwart supporter of the Society. Jung, 52, was one...

New question in “Ask the Experts”: Design length of transition tubes

The question is: Are there any rules of thumb for the design length of transition tubes in order to prevent condensation at the room temperature end?

Rules of thumb for the design length of transition tubes

Are there any rules of thumb for the design length of transition tubes in order to prevent condensation at the room temperature end? By “transition tube,” I mean some standard size (O.D. and wall thickness) type 304 stainless steel tube with either 4 K or 80 K at one end...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

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...

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

Seeking recommendations for commercial sensors

I would like to measure vibrations in small LHe cryostats. Could anybody recommend commercial sensors which would be suitable for the purpose? I am interested in the frequency range between 1Hz and a couple of KHz, with particular attention to the low frequency side.

Estimating cost of carbon steel, pure helium storage tanks

In order to perform an indicative cost assessment of our helium cryogenic plant (still in the design phase), I need an estimation of the cost of carbon steel room temperature pure helium storage tanks. The storage pressure is 20 bar. Can anyone give me suggestions about how to estimate the...

Supplier of pressure sensor that works down to 4.2 K

In an actual experiment we would like to measure the static pressure in a cryostat in the range between one and four bar. Therefore we are looking for some (more or less) cheap pressure sensors that work in liquid helium in the pressure range up to five bar. Unfortunately all...

Looking for reference/textbook suggestions

Can you suggest some reference textbooks for practical thermodynamics applications in cryogenic fields? I need textbooks with cryogenics calculations and examples, dimensioning procedures, second principle applications in cryogenics, heat load calculations, cryogenic pump application, etc. Do such books exist? Does any similar source of information exist?

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