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Booster 19 Rolls out to Masseys for Cryogenic Proof Testing

written by Ryan Weber Following Booster 18’s failure during a pressure test, SpaceX went ahead and set a new record for stacking a booster in the Starship Program, to try and get Block 3 and the program at large back on track. And this weekend, crews rolled Booster 19 out to...

Provaris Delivers on First Phase LCO2 Tank Engineering and Design

By Dominic Ellison Australian hydrogen and carbon dioxide storage and transport firm Provaris Energy has completed the phase-one delivery of an LCO2 tank front end engineering and design (FEED) program. The programme included detailed engineering and material and weld testing of a 25,000 cbm LCO2 low-pressure tank and class approval with...

New Partnership with Druck set for Major Breakthrough in Hydrogen-Powered Aircraft

The University of Bath has entered a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Druck, a Crane Company business, to develop the world’s first flight-certified cryogenic hydrogen pressure sensor, helping pave the way for net-zero aviation. Hydrogen is one of the most promising solutions to decarbonising air travel, with aviation currently accounting...

In Memoriam: Dr. Ray Radebaugh

It is with deep sadness that we share the passing of Ray Radebaugh. Ray was a pioneer, mentor, and friend whose influence on cryogenics spanned more than five decades and touched nearly every corner of our field. Ray’s passion for engineering began early. Growing up in Mishawaka, Indiana, he learned...

New Cryogenic Vacuum Chamber Cuts Noise for Quantum Ion Trapping

by John Toon, Georgia Institute of Technology Even very slight environmental noise, such as microscopic vibrations or magnetic field fluctuations a hundred times smaller than Earth’s magnetic field, can be catastrophic for quantum computing experiments with trapped ions. To address that challenge, researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI)...

Remembering Bruce P. Strauss, a Steward of the Superconductivity Community

The superconductivity community has lost one of its most devoted stewards with the passing of Bruce P. Strauss, whose career spanned more than five decades and whose influence reached far beyond his own technical work. Bruce was not only a contributor to applied superconductivity; he was a builder of the...

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

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...

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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