NASA Plum Brook builds world’s largest vacuum chamber
The world's largest vacuum chamber has been built by NASA Plum Brook.
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W. Vincent Liu wins Outstanding Young Researcher Award
W. Vincent Liu, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh, is the winner of the 2007 Outstanding Young Researcher Award of the Overseas Chinese Physics Association.
Dr. Steven Van Sciver named CSA fellow
Dr. Steven Van Sciver, the John Gorrie Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Florida A&M University-Florida State University College of Engineering and a founding member of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, became just the fifth member of the Cryogenic Society of America to be named a fellow.
Larbalestier receives Lifetime Achievement Award
Dr. David Larbalestier, Director of Florida State University's Applied Superconductivity Center, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Cryogenic Materials Conference (ICMC) on July 17 in Chattanooga.
Dr. Lucio Rossi receives IEEE Council on Superconductivity Award
The prestigious IEEE Council on Superconductivity award for continuing and significant contributions in the field of applied superconductivity was awarded to Dr. Lucio Rossi of CERN for his "significant and sustained contributions" on large scale applications.
Art Francis, long-time CSA member, dies
We are sorry to report the death of Art Francis, an expert in Helium, and long-time member of the Cryogenic Society of America.
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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...
Magnets
From “Superconductivity: Present and Future Applications” by the Coalition for the Commercial Application of Superconductors. Particle physics uses accelerators to recreate the conditions of the early universe in an attempt to piece together the complex puzzle of how we got to where we are today. These huge machines are used...
Energy Storage
From “Superconductivity: Present and Future Applications” by the Coalition for the Commercial Application of Superconductors. With power lines increasingly congested and prone to instability, strategic injection of brief bursts of real power can play a crucial role in maintaining grid reliability. Small-scale Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) systems, based on...
Astronomy
ASTRONOMY IN SPACE by Peter V. Mason, retired, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Visiting Associate, California Institute of Technology. Pmason@alumni.caltech.edu In thinking about the reasons to perform astronomy in space, we first consider the effect of the earth’s atmosphere. On a scale of decreasing energy, gamma rays, cosmic rays, X-rays and...
Cryocoolers
What is a Cryocooler? A mechanism that can extract heat from an object (cooler) and by doing so draw its temperature down below approximately 150 Kelvin (cryo). — (Courtesy Dr. Willy Gully) What is the difference between a Cryocooler and a Cryostat? A cryostat is any device designed to maintain...
Suppliers of regenerator materials
I was looking for suppliers of regenerator materials. Can you please provide a list of vendors for: • Lead spheres • Bronze screen discs • Rare earth materials and spheres Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.
Containing ice accumulation while recovering helium
We are implementing a system to recover helium from our Janis ST-500 continuous flow LHe cryostat. The recovery system uses standard 1/4″ plastic tubing, which we connect directly to the cryostat’s exhaust port. The problem with this setup is that the gas is still quite cold as it leaves the...
Looking for some advice regarding cryogenic modeling in ANSYS FEA software
I am looking for some advice regarding cryogenic modeling in ANSYS FEA software. I have been trying to use the Transient Thermal module, in workbench 14.5, to model the cooling of a device in a dilution fridge. I have approximate values for the cooling power of each plate in the...
Compensators and/or accumulators: Are they used in cryogenics?
Are compensators and/or accumulators, high or low pressure, used in cryogenics? Are they used in space?