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Cryogenics Impacts Life Sciences

“It’s too hot, it’s too cold.” We have all heard those famous words from family, friends, coworkers or feedback from instrumentation. Whether it is to control temperature in a confined environment, rotating equipment, or bioprocessing, cryogens are utilized throughout industries. At times, valves are overlooked as an integral part of...

Ovarian Tissue Cryopreservation Offers Hope in Canada

A monumental program centered on ovarian tissue cryopreservation is offering hope to women and girls across Canada. Dr. James Benson, a world-renowned cryobiology expert, leads this transformative initiative. This medical procedure safeguards healthy ovarian tissue before cancer treatments can harm it, ultimately enabling female patients to have biological children in...

Pioneering High-Performance Valve Solutions

Ampo Poyam Valves (AMPO), with a history spanning nearly six decades, has established itself as a significant player in the realm of highly engineered valves and fluid handling solutions tailored for demanding applications and services. Drawing from its extensive experience, the company has earned a reputation for handling international projects...

Why Are Quantum Technologies So Cool?

Efforts to build a useful quantum computer are underway, with startup companies competing alongside the big leaders in information technology. Other quantum technologies are already part of our everyday lives, from MRI scanners in hospitals to atomic clocks, which are used to keep precise track of time on GPS satellites...

Unleashing Hydrogen—a Paradigm Shift in Energy Storage and a Sustainable Future

As the wheels of innovation propel society forward, some elements of our technological landscape remain entrenched in the past, seemingly impervious to the tides of change. The heating oil tank, a relic from a different era, stands as a testament to this phenomenon. In a time when the urgency of...

Nanoparticles Show Quick and Easy Way to Target Cancer

Researchers have been exploring the use of injectable nanoparticles that can quickly home in on a microscopic tumor. It’s a novel technique that could pave the way for the early detection of small tumors that may not show up on traditional imaging technologies. In a study published in the October issue of...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Stability

Stability refers to the ability of a device employing superconductors to remain in its superconducting state after part of the superconductor transitions back to its normal conducting state due to a disturbance. While the concept can apply to many superconducting devices—transmission lines, generators, motors, etc.—it is most commonly considered in...

Cable-in-Conduit Conductors

Cable-in-Conduit Conductors (CICC) are a common form of superconducting cable used in large-scale applications. There are several varieties of CICCs, but they all consist of many small, stabilized superconducting wires contained within a conduit through which a coolant (typically supercritical He II) flows. Figure 1 shows the cross section of...

Bayonet Coupling

A bayonet coupling is a demountable joint that allows for quick and easy connection and disconnection of cryogenic components, including transfer lines, cryostats, liquefiers and refrigerators. Bayonets provide a number of advantages, chief among them the ability to connect and disconnect the bayonets while components they connect are still at...

Latest in Cryo Central

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...

Latest in Ask the Experts

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?

Using nitrogen as a cryogen

Is it possible to achieve -200˚C using nitrogen as a cryogen?

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