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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Cold Compressors
A common way to provide cooling below the normal boiling point of helium (4.2K) is to reduce the pressure above the bath of liquid helium, thus also reducing the bath’s equilibrium saturation temperature. For example, to produce a 1.8K bath of liquid helium, the saturation pressure has to be reduced...
Kapitza Conductance
Kapitza conductance refers to the heat transfer between a solid surface and a fluid that covers that surface. Fundamentally, it describes the inherent difficulty in transferring energy from a solid to the fluid covering the solid surface. This phenomenon was first observed by P. L. Kapitza in 1941 while studying...
Thermosyphons
A thermosyphon (or thermosiphon) is a device that transfers heat via natural convection in a fluid. The natural convection is driven by gravity with the colder, denser fluid flowing downhill and the warmer, less dense fluid flowing back up. Thus, thermosyphons connect an object to be cooled with a reservoir...
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?