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H2 Storage System Successfully Scaled up

Since September 2023, AMBARtec has been testing its 7.5 kg H2 storage system in full operation with hydrogen. The aim was also to optimise the plant control and find the best system configuration in terms of energy balance. Maximum energy efficiency: AMBARtec’s storage system + SOECThe energy balance analysis shows...

Oxford Instruments NanoScience Joins Rigetti’s Novera QPU Partner Program

Oxford Instruments NanoScience, a leading provider of cryogenic systems, announced that it has joined the Novera™ QPU Partner Program. This addition strengthens the program’s ecosystem of quantum computing hardware, software, and service providers who build and offer integral components of functional quantum computing systems. The Novera QPU Partner Program, launched...

Saving Florida’s Blighted Corals

Florida’s coral reefs are critical to the state’s economy. They protect beaches and play a vital role in supporting thriving fisheries. However, time may be running out to witness some types of live coral in the Florida Keys. A severe heat wave in the summer of 2023 killed many species, and...

CEC to Award Two Prestigious Scholarships at 2025 Conference

The Cryogenic Engineering Conference (CEC) will award two distinguished scholarships at the upcoming 2025 CEC/ICMC: the Donna Jung Memorial Scholarship Award and the Klaus and Jean Timmerhaus Scholarship Award. These awards are part of the CEC’s ongoing efforts to encourage the next generation of engineers and scientists in the field...

Beckman Institute Labs Bridge Advanced Imaging and Alzheimer’s Research

The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has embarked on a life-changing research project to advance the early detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. With the support of a $3 million grant from the US National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes...

Bluefors Lab Offers Cryo Measurements, a Low Risk Model for Experiments

Quantum technology continues to develop at a rapid pace, and the need for access to cryogenic cooling systems for quantum research has never been greater. While established institutions have an increasing number of options to choose from, startups and smaller institutions still face considerable challenges, not least of which are...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Mixed Refrigerant Cycles

Most cryogenic refrigeration systems, both large scale systems and cryocoolers, use helium as a working fluid. There are a number of advantages to helium, not the least of which is that helium remains a fluid down to the lowest achievable temperatures. In order to freeze helium, pressures of over 20...

Fountain Pumps and He II Phase Separators

Helium II (He II), the second liquid phase of the 4He isotope described in this column in Cold Facts Spring 2010 (http://2csa.us/he2), can be modeled as consisting of two interpenetrating fluids. One, the superfluid component, has zero viscosity and entropy and the other, the normal fluid component, has nonzero viscosity...

Turboexpanders

A vital technology in the refrigerators and liquefiers described in Cold Facts Volume 31 Number 3 is that of turboexpanders. These devices are rotating machines in which the process fluid (e.g., helium) does work against the turboexpander while moving from high pressure to a lower pressure and thus is cooled....

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

Presence of alloying elements in tool steels

I want to expand my knowledge of cryogenics in general and tool steels in particular. Specifically, I am keenly interested in learning about the presence of alloying elements in tool steels and how their presence in various combinations affects the performance of tool steels after cryogenic treatment.

Pros and cons of barcoding samples

I was wondering if I could ask for input on pros and cons of barcoding. We are in the process of trying to decide if we should start barcoding our samples and I’m just not sure if this is feasible for our organization. We have numerous sites all over the...

Purity level of helium gas stream in cryo plant purification system

I would like to know what the principal methods and the relative instrumentation to check the purity level of helium gas stream in the purification system of a common helium cryogenic plant are. What principles are these instruments based on? And what are their principal characteristics?

LN2 for cryopreservation through controlled rate freezing of samples

I am the cryogenic specialist for a stem cell bank in Greece. I am trying to find the minimum requirements (purity, humidity, etc.) of liquid nitrogen for cryopreservation through controlled rate freezing of biological samples.

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