Air Liquide opens first public hydrogen filling station in Germany
In September, Air Liquide officially opened its first public hydrogen filling station for passenger cars in Germany, in the city of Düsseldorf.
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Air Products increases price of liquid and bulk gases in US
Effective October 1, 2012, or as contracts permit, Air Products will increase product pricing and monthly service charges for merchant customers in North America.
SLAC employees witness space shuttle flyover
The space shuttle Endeavour delighted SLAC employees and other northern California crowds on a final flight, atop a customized 747, to its resting place at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, where it will be on display as a museum exhibit.
Airgas to build new ASU in Chicago area
On September 20, Airgas, Inc. announced plans to build a new air separation unit (ASU) in the Chicago area in order to meet increasing demand for merchant gases in the region. The ASU, which will produce oxygen, nitrogen and argon, is expected to begin production in the fall of 2014.
October 7 is target launch date for resupply mission to ISS
NASA and SpaceX have announced October 7, 2012, as the target launch date for SpaceX's first resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The launch of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft is scheduled for 8:34 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Norman Augustine to chair Fermilab director search committee
Norman R. Augustine, the retired chairman and chief executive officer of Lockheed Martin Corp., has agreed to chair the search committee for the new Director of Fermilab.
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Stability
Stability refers to the ability of a device employing superconductors to remain in its superconducting state after part of the superconductor transitions back to its normal conducting state due to a disturbance. While the concept can apply to many superconducting devices—transmission lines, generators, motors, etc.—it is most commonly considered in...
Cable-in-Conduit Conductors
Cable-in-Conduit Conductors (CICC) are a common form of superconducting cable used in large-scale applications. There are several varieties of CICCs, but they all consist of many small, stabilized superconducting wires contained within a conduit through which a coolant (typically supercritical He II) flows. Figure 1 shows the cross section of...
Bayonet Coupling
A bayonet coupling is a demountable joint that allows for quick and easy connection and disconnection of cryogenic components, including transfer lines, cryostats, liquefiers and refrigerators. Bayonets provide a number of advantages, chief among them the ability to connect and disconnect the bayonets while components they connect are still at...
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...
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?