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AmSC and TECO-Westinghouse announce research joint venture

American Superconductor Corporation and TECO-Westinghouse Motor Company announced the formation of a research joint venture to develop high temperature superconductor (HTS) and related technologies for high-power, direct drive wind generators for offshore wind farms.

DNV approves FIBA for Manufacturer Certificate No. T-1142

Det Norske Veritas (DNV) has granted FIBA Technologies, Inc. approval of Manufacturer Certificate No. T-1142, which approves FIBA for the manufacturing of seamless gas bottles and pressure vessels of Class I and II. FIBA is one of only four companies in the world to be granted this approval.

Carl T. Johnson nominated for Administrator of PHMSA

Carl T. Johnson, former president of The Compressed Gas Association, has been nominated by President George W. Bush to be Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration at the Department of Transportation.

James Fesmire gets promoted at NASA Kennedy

CSA Technical Director James Fesmire was recently promoted to the position of Senior Principal Investigator at the NASA Kennedy Cryogenics Test Laboratory.

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).

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.

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

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...

Latest in Cryo Central

Magnetic Levitation

From http://www.superconductors.org. Magnetic-levitation is an application where superconductors perform extremely well. Transport vehicles such as trains can be made to “float” on strong superconducting magnets, virtually eliminating friction between the train and its tracks. Not only would conventional electromagnets waste much of the electrical energy as heat, they would have...

Superconductivity

From Superpower website. History of Superconductivity Superconductivity was discovered in 1911 by the Dutch physicist, Heike Kammerlingh Onnes when he was able to liquefy helium by cooling it to 4 Kelvin, or -452°F. This enabled him to cool other materials close to absolute zero and investigate their electrical properties. He...

Medical Applications of Cryogenics

Neutron Therapy Cryogenics is at the heart of nuclear accelerators. Accelerators such as Fermilab’s Tevatron make neutron therapy for cancer possible. From Fermilab Today 4/20/09: Fermilab currently offers neutron therapy. But staff at Fermilab designed and built the proton accelerator used by the nation’s first hospital-based treatment center to use...

Nuclear Physics

Al Zeller National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab (NSCL) at Michigan State University zeller@nscl.msu.edu Cryogenics has a long history in nuclear physics. The technology has its origins in the use of cold traps for maintaining a vacuum, which is required to prevent beam loss and for generating high voltages used in acceleration....

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