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Goddard scientists work at extreme edge of cosmic ice

Behind locked doors, in a lab built like a bomb shelter, Perry Gerakines makes something ordinary yet truly alien: ice. This isn't the ice of snowflakes or ice cubes. No, this ice needs such intense cold and low pressure to form that the right conditions rarely, if ever, occur naturally...

A cyclotron’s long journey home

Seventy-five years after one of the world’s first working cyclotrons was handed to the London Science Museum, it has returned to its birthplace in the Berkeley hills, where the man who invented it, Ernest O. Lawrence, helped launch the field of modern particle physics as well as the national laboratory...

Man-made material pushes the bounds of superconductivity

A multi-university team of researchers has artificially engineered a unique multilayer material that could lead to breakthroughs in both superconductivity research and in real-world applications.

ConocoPhillips may halt export from Kenai LNG in Alaska

ConocoPhillips said it may halt LNG shipments from the company’s Kenai facility in Alaska after March 31 when the company’s export license expires, LNG World News reported.

Tributes to 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...

IIR announces call for nominations for several awards

The International Institute of Refrigeration has launched a call for nominations for the Gustav Lorentzen Medal, the Science and Technology Medal and 8 Young Researchers Awards to be presented during the 24th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration in Yokohama in August 2015.

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

Air Separation and Liquefaction

by Nils Tellier, PE, President, EPSIM Corporation (CSA CSM) nils@epsim.us All illustrations courtesy EPSIM Corporation Background History of Air Separation and Liquefaction This section builds on a rich history of methods to develop deep refrigeration and cryogenic liquefaction during the 19th Century. You are encouraged to read Cryo Central’s History...

Bose-Einstein Condensate

A Bose-Einstein condensate, first proposed in 1925 by Albert Einstein based on work done by Satyendra Nath Bose (the same Bose from whom the term boson is derived), is a super-cold state of matter in which almost all of the individual atoms have “condensed” down to the lowest possible quantum...

Cold Technology for Pest Control

While it does not reach temperatures cold enough to be called cryogenic, carbon dioxide snow is at the heart of a new way of dealing with unwanted pests. It utilizes a quick freezing process that takes advantage of the properties of carbon dioxide snow and has a number of benefits...

Cryogenic Finishing

The following 3 articles discuss the uses and procedures of various type of cryogenic finishing. 1) By Robin A. Rhodes, Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. rrhodes@nitrofreeze.com Cryogenic Deflashing is employed to remove undesired residual mold flash that remains on molded parts after they are removed or ejected from the...

Latest in Ask the Experts

Looking for manufacturers of cryogenic dewars with infrared detectors (long wave)

We are looking for manufacturers of cryogenic dewars with infrared detectors (long wave). We need these dewars for repairing infrared systems (thermographic systems) and we cannot find such glass dewars. Do you know any manufacturers’ addresses?

Manufacturers of cryogenic regenerator lead spheres?

Would you please suggest a few manufacturers that produce cryogenic regenerator lead spheres? The size we need is 0.15mm-0.2mm. I don’t have a lot of ideas for where to go to purchase them.

Assistance with resolving a sealing problem?

We are fabricating piping components for refrigeration service. These components must be leak checked at 15 bar (218 psig). We are using a gas test media that is 25% helium and experiencing difficulty on maintaining a seal on the flanged connections. Do you know anyone or any references that could...

Cryogenic data on leather and nomex

Could anyone please help me out with the following cryogenics data: Leather — mechanical properties at 77 K or lower Nomex — thermal conductivity @ 4 to 50 K I lost the data I had some time ago and although this should be easily accessible, I can’t find any reference...

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