Linde North America rebrands Spectra Gases business
Linde North America, a member of The Linde Group, has announced that Spectra Gases Inc., acquired in 2006, is changing its brand name to Linde, effective immediately.
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TWI files Chapter 11
Taylor Wharton International (TWI) has announced that it has filed "pre-arranged" voluntary Chapter 11 petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
Fermilab Release: Beams are Back in the Large Hadron Collider
Fermilab Press Release, November 20, 2009: Particle beams are once again zooming around the world's most powerful particle accelerator-the Large Hadron Collider-located at the CERN laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland.
Paul Alivisatos named director of Berkeley Lab
Paul Alivisatos was recently named director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory after holding the position of interim director since January 2009.
Bose-Einstein condensate of strontium produced for first time
Scientists from the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information recently won an international competition for producing a Bose-Einstein condensate of the alkaline-earth element strontium.
Lectures from “Accelerators” workshop now available online
A series of lectures from the recent "Accelerators for America's Future" workshop in Washington DC are now available online from Fermilab.
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Dilution Refrigerators
Dilution refrigerators are a common technique for reaching temperatures below 1K, particularly where continuous cooling at these temperatures is required. Helium exists in two stable isotopes: 4He and 3He. Naturally occurring 3He is extremely rare, constituting less than 1 part per million of helium gas. However, 3He can be manufactured,...
Oxygen Deficiency Hazards
Oxygen Deficiency Hazards (ODH) are a significant safety issue in cryogenic facilities. ODH occurs when inert gases such as nitrogen, helium or argon displace room air and thus lower the percentage of oxygen in the space below that required for human life. OSHA defines an area as oxygen deficient if...
Kelvin Temperature Scale
The Kelvin temperature scale is the principal temperature scale used in cryogenics and science. The kelvin is also one of the seven base units in the Système International d’Unités (SI) and is the unit of thermodynamic temperature. Thermodynamic temperature is a fundamental physical quantity (like mass, length or electrical current)...
Cryogenic Electronics
Randall Kirschman, consulting physicist, Mountain View, California ExtElect@gmail.com Cryogenic electronics—the operation of electronic devices, circuits, and systems at cryogenic temperatures—has been a valuable technology for decades. Cryogenic electronics (also referred to as low-temperature electronics, or cold electronics) can be based on semiconductive devices, on superconductive devices, or on a combination...
Particle Physics: High Energy Physics
Cryogenics and High-Energy Physics 1. From symmetry magazine: http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/cms/?pid=1000627: Cryogenics is the study of how materials behave at temperatures near absolute zero. In high-energy particle accelerators, such frigid temperatures reduce the electrical resistance of wires in superconducting magnets, increasing the magnet strength and allowing faster particle acceleration. The same holds...
HTS Degaussing Systems
From the Spring 2009 issue of Cold Facts (Volume 25, Number 2): Thanks to a joint project by the US Navy and a number of industry partners, high temperature superconducting (HTS) technology is now at the heart of an advanced degaussing system aboard the USS Higgins at the naval station...
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
From http://www.superconductors.org: An area where superconductors can perform a life-saving function is in the field of biomagnetism. Doctors need a non-invasive means of determining what’s going on inside the human body. By impinging a strong superconductor-derived magnetic field into the body, hydrogen atoms that exist in the body’s water and...
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?