UK pulls out of ILC
A funding crisis at a leading research council in the UK, The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), has forced the country to pull out of plans for the International Linear Collider (ILC).
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JLab achieves milestone in construction of $310-Million upgrade
A proposed $310-million project that will double the energy of the electron beam at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) achieved a critical milestone on November 9, 2007, when the Department of Energy approved the project's performance baseline.
LCFOA elects Grimm and Urbin to Board
The Linear Collider Forum of America (LCFOA) has elected Dr. Terry Grimm of Niowave and John Urbin of Linde BOC Process Plants to their Board of Directors. Urbin is a CSA board member and Grimm, a CSA member, received the prestigious Boom award from the Society.
“Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold” miniseries gets rave reviews
The miniseries Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold aired in late July on British BBC4 to rave reviews.
CSA member John Moeller publishes book
CSA member John Moeller, a cryogenic engineering consultant and owner, Trinity Technology, has published his personal account of the early days of the US space program, "From Malabar to the Moon," a hardcover book.
Phillip L. Korodi has joined Eden Cryogenics as Senior Designer
Phillip L. Korodi has joined Eden Cryogenics as Senior Designer. He has had an extensive career in the cryogenic industry. At Eden he will be responsible for vacuum insulated piping design and development over a variety of applications, including turnkey cryogenic systems.
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Dewar
A dewar is a type of cryostat named after Sir James Dewar, the researcher who first developed the concept of a vacuum insulated container with silvered walls to reflect thermal radiation. Dewar was the first to liquefy hydrogen, and he created the device to store his discovery. The thermos bottle...
Stirling and Gifford-McMahon Cryocoolers
Stirling and Gifford-McMahon (GM) cryocoolers are two of the most commonly used cryocoolers in cryogenics. Both devices have a significant industrial base and operate at a wide range of temperatures and capacities. The thermodynamic cycles for both of these cryocoolers are quite similar. The Stirling cycle consists of a compressor,...
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
A significant commercial application of cryogenics is the liquefaction, transport and storage of natural gas. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is generally 95 percent methane with a few percent ethane and much lower concentrations of propane and butane. LNG liquefies at 111.6 K. Unlike many applications of cryogenics, the motivation for...
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...
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...