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World record quality factor achieved at Fermilab

Earlier this year, Fermilab scientist Anna Grassellino began researching past successes and failures of accelerator cavities made of bulk-diffused niobium-nitride. Scientists reported less-than-stellar results in their tests in the 1990s and, in the years since, appeared to have mostly abandoned the material as a possibility for superconducting cavities. But Grassellino...

Superconductor ‘flaws’ could be key to its abilities

Many researchers studying superconductivity strive to create a clean, pure, perfect sample, but a team of physicists at Purdue University found that some flaws might hold the key to a material's unique abilities.

Cooled coal emissions would clean air, lower health and climate change costs

Refrigerating coal plant emissions would reduce levels of dangerous chemicals that pour into the air—including carbon dioxide— by more than 90 percent, at a cost of 25 percent efficiency, according to a simple math-driven formula designed by a team of University of Oregon physicists.

Israeli refrigerator part of equipment on Mars Curiosity Rover

The Curiosity rover, currently on Mars after recently landing in a tricky operation controlled by National Space and Aeronautics Administration (NASA) technicians, includes a refrigerator manufactured in Israel.

First room-temperature maser developed

British researchers have, for the first time, built a prototype solid-state maser that works at room-temperature, with no permanent applied magnetic field.

Estimating cost for components of a helium plant

I have to perform a cost estimation of our helium cryogenic plant design. I based it on the formula discussed in the following article “THE COST OF HELIUM REFRIGERATORS AND COOLERS FOR SUPERCONDUCTING DEVICES AS A FUNCTION OF COOLING AT 4 K” by M. A. Green: C(M$) = 2.6 [R(kW)]^0.63...

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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