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SuperPower to build SFCL transformer for DOE Smart Grid demo

SuperPower Inc. recently announced that it will partner with Waukesha Electric Systems (Waukesha, Wisconsin) to build a superconducting fault current limiting (SCFL) transformer for the US Department of Energy's Smart Grid demonstration project.

CDMS results could be dark matter

From Fermilab Today, Special Edition, 12/17/09: In the analysis of new data, scientists from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment, managed by the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, have detected two events that have characteristics consistent with the particles that physicists believe make up dark matter.

LHC ends first period of operation

Wednesday, December 16 marked the end of the first period of operation for the Large Hadron Collider, during which new world records were set and the data-taking process began.

Budget cuts announced by UK’s STFC

The UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) announced last week that it will withdraw from 25 leading international science projects over the next five years in an effort to make up for a £40 million shortfall in funding.

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Joule-Thomson Effect

The Joule-Thomson (JT) effect is a thermodynamic process that occurs when a fluid expands from high pressure to low pressure at constant enthalpy (an isenthalpic process). Such a process can be approximated in the real world by expanding a fluid from high pressure to low pressure across a valve. Under...

Current Leads

One of the challenges of using superconducting magnets is the connection of the magnet to a room temperature power supply. This is accomplished via current leads. The trick is that current leads should ideally have a low heat leak, since they connect room temperature to cryogenic temperature, while at the...

Multilayer Insulation

Multilayer insulation (also referred to as superinsulation) is a key component in the reduction of heat leak to cryogenic systems due to thermal radiation. MLI consists of a series of uncooled reflective surfaces placed in the vacuum space between two surfaces, one warmer than the other. Generally speaking, for ideal...

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...

Could an Amateur Construct a Liquid Air Plant?

I am a newly retired experimental physicist. Is it feasible for an “amateur” to construct a liquid air plant? Do you have detailed descriptions of older (presumably simpler) liquid air plants, or references that might be of assistance?