Physicist Marvin L. Cohen receives Carnegie Mellon’s Dickson Prize in Science
Carnegie Mellon University awarded its 2011 Dickson Prize in Science to Marvin L. Cohen, one of the most influential condensed matter physicists in the world.
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Physicists, medical industry team up to build advanced cancer therapy accelerator
A new collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and Best Medical International (BMI) aims to design one of the most dynamic and effective cancer therapy devices in the world.
Fermilab’s SRF program incorporates old equipment into new designs
Some people make coffee coasters out of old newspapers or lawn ornaments out of rusty shovels. Fermilab is building a particle accelerator that employs $28 million of recycled equipment and material.
Academics rallying to boycott Elsevier
Over 4,000 scientists have signed an online petition in protest over the pricing and distribution policies of Elsevier, a publisher which sells over 2,000 academic journals along with 20,000 other books. Many of the signatories are distinguished academics at such institutions as Harvard, Yale, McGill, Cambridge and Oxford. They promise...
MSU Board approves next step of FRIB project
The Michigan State University Board of Trustees has given its approval to the next step in the development of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, a world-class nuclear research facility that will attract scientists from all over the world to East Lansing while creating more than $1 billion in economic...
Scientist recounts superconductivity discovery
Like many young men from Alabama, Jim Ashburn's path to fame involved football, good timing, a fair dose of serendipity (or good luck, if you prefer), timely coaching and a strong team. Ashburn's path also included a love of science, especially mathematics.
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Refrigerators and Liquefiers
Two of the most common terms used in cryogenics are “refrigerator” and “liquefier.” These terms describe similar and, as will be seen, in some cases identical components. A refrigerator provides cooling (that is, absorbs heat) at cryogenic temperatures. Refrigerators typically put a working fluid (such as helium) through one of...
Air Separation
Air separation is one of the largest, as well as earliest, industrial applications of cryogenics. In this process, cryogenic temperatures are used to separate air into its constituent gases: nitrogen (78.08%), oxygen (20.95%), argon (0.93%) and carbon dioxide (0.3%). Trace gases such as krypton, neon, xenon and helium total far...
Coefficient of Performance and Figure of Merit
The coefficient of performance (COP) is used to describe the effectiveness of refrigerators, including those operating at cryogenic temperatures. The COP is defined as the amount of heat removed at the cryogenic operating temperature of the refrigerator divided by the amount of work that must be applied to remove the...
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...
Power usage: cryogenic systems vs. regular refrigerators
A recent project highlighted to me that closed cycle cryogenic cooling systems use far more electrical power to reduce temperatures by a few watts than regular refrigerators. I am sure it must be something to do with the extra difficulty of removing the heat from the liquid nitrogen or similar...
Redundancy strategies for mechanical -80C freezers
I was wondering what kind of redundancy strategies are people using for their mechanical -80C freezers? I am aware of the following. Please add if you are doing something different. 1) 1 Backup freezer for every 10 freezers – Empty and maintained at -80C at all times 2) Backup C02...
Safety guidelines for handling cryo vessels of nitrogen
I am looking for any safety guidelines for handling cryogenic vessels of nitrogen indoors and outdoors. I am especially interested in recommendations for area monitors to detect leaks, flow detection devices, etc.
Method to move components in a cryogenic environment
Does anyone know of a method with which to reliably move components in a cryogenic environment? We are interested in moving detectors in a cryogenically cooled (2K) vacuum chamber, which is contained within a larger cryostat/isolation vacuum with thermal shields. As the desired horizontal or vertical displacement is between 10...