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

New Superconductive Materials Have Just Been Discovered

In 2024, superconductivity—the flow of electric current with zero resistance—was discovered in three distinct materials. Two instances stretched the textbook understanding of the phenomenon, while the third defied it entirely. “It’s an extremely unusual form of superconductivity that a lot of people would have said is not possible,” said Ashvin...

WCS Redefines Boundaries in Cryogenics

West Coast Solutions (WCS) has experienced remarkable growth since its founding in 2015 by Dr. Carl Kirkconnell. From its origins as a one-person operation, the company has expanded to a team of over 40, 80% of whom are engineers. Anchored by a core group of seasoned professionals—many former Raytheon colleagues—and...

Meet Our New Board Members

As the Cryogenic Society of America moves into an exciting era of innovation and exploration, we’re thrilled to introduce the talented professionals who will help guide our organization forward. This year’s new board members bring a wealth of expertise from diverse sectors within the field, as well as a shared...

CoolCAD Electronics Pioneers Precision in Cryogenic Testing and Modeling

CoolCAD Electronics is a leading provider of electrical test services (current-voltage, capacitance-voltage, noise, transients, etc.) and compact modeling (SPICE) for companies and agencies fabricating and/or designing electronics for low temperature operation. CoolCAD Electronics is a leading-edge company specializing in cryogenic electronics design, testing, and characterization of semiconductor devices operating at...

INFICON’s Cryo Tech Uncovers Volcanic Secrets on Vulcano and Stromboli

Volcanism is one of Earth’s most powerful forces, reshaping landscapes and impacting ecosystems in dramatic ways. To advance the prediction of volcanic eruptions, INFICON GmbH, a leader in measurement and sensor technologies, is partnering with scientists and research institutions to monitor volcanic activity on Italy’s Vulcano and Stromboli islands. This...

Stirling Cryogenics’ World Tour

Given the theme of this issue of Cold Facts, Stirling Cryogenics would like to take you on a tour of our 70-year history, telling about our recent and vintage cryogenerators and systems all around the world. Universities worldwide have been our customers from the very beginning, cheering in the 1950s that...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigeration

Reaching temperatures below 1K requires different techniques than the various helium gas cycles found in large scale refrigeration plants and small cryocoolers. One of these techniques is Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigeration (ADR). This technique takes advantage of the fact that the entropy of paramagnetic materials in a magnetic field is lower than...

Cryogen-Free

A cryogen is any fluid that operates at cryogenic temperatures (below roughly 150K – 120K). Using this definition, helium gas at 40K is a cryogen. Another more restrictive definition is to use cryogen to refer specifically to liquids at cryogenic temperatures. This is generally how it is used in the...

Cryostats and Cryocoolers

A cryostat is any device designed to maintain things (including fluids) at cryogenic temperatures. In general usage, cryostats tend to be passive devices rather than providing active cooling. In this usage, cryostats keep things cold by thermally isolating them from room temperature. This generally is accomplished by a combination of...

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

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?

Using nitrogen as a cryogen

Is it possible to achieve -200˚C using nitrogen as a cryogen?

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