Cold Facts Digital – The go-to place for Cryogenics and Superconductivity

Tackling the Rapidly Expanding Hydrogen Power Industry

PBS Velka Bites has been in the cryogenic business for more than 35 years. Today, its cryogenics engineering capabilities include everything from preliminary calculation through design, manufacturing and assembly, to testing and user optimization of its cryogenic products. Since the late ’80s, PBS has been developing and supplying cryogenic turbines...

How the SpaceX Explosion Would Have Been Different in Florida

Shortly after SpaceX’s massive Starship launched from Texas on its first full test early Thursday, the 400-foot stack of hardware began to tumble until it broke apart in a fiery explosion over the Gulf of Mexico. The overall demonstration mission – a test of the new rocket’s ability to ignite and clear the pad’s 500-foot tower...

Understanding the Origin of Matter with the CUORE Experiment

The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) can search for these rare NLDBD processes using different nuclei. Scientists rely on complementarity among searches using different nuclei to have a better understanding of the underlying physics in the process. Complementarity in physics involves theories that contrast with each other but...

Svanehøj Acquires Complete Cryogenic Services

With its third company acquisition in just over two years, marine pump specialist, Svanehøj, continues to expand its service solution business, this time by taking over California-based Complete Cryogenic Services (CCS), a specialist in service and overhaul of submerged pumps on LNG tankers. The number of LNG tankers globally has grown...

Skyroot Aerospace and Dhawan-II’s More Powerful 3D-Printed Cryogenic Engine

In 2020, the world was introduced to Dhawan-I, a 3D printed cryogenic engine made by Skyroot Aerospace. Three years later, the Indian company has been working on a more powerful model, unveiling to the public the new and improved Dhawan-II, which is said to have successfully completed testing. Like its predecessor,...

A Game Changer for CERN

CERN’s new visitor and education center, Science Gateway, due to open this autumn, will welcome up to half a million people each year. Project leader Patrick Geeraert describes how this iconic project came about, how it will operate, and what it aims to achieve. How did the idea for Science...

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

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

Specs and info on turbo expanders

I am a fourth year chemical engineering student doing a design project for the liquefaction of natural gas to DME and we are using a turbo expansion unit. I was wondering whether you would send me some specs and any additional information on turbo expanders that I could use as...

Colleges that offer cryogenic studies

Would you happen to know of any colleges in the US that offer cryogenics as a major? If not, should I major in something like biology or physics before, then branch off to the field of cryogenics? Any information that you could give me would be greatly appreciated, considering this...

Sudden loss of vacuum in LHe storage dewar

I’m trying to find data on what happens when a 100 Liter LHe storage dewar experiences a catastrophic failure such as a sudden loss of vacuum. If anyone has any info on this subject, it would be very helpful.

Data on hardness of Indium?

Where can I find experimental data on the hardness of Indium, as a function of temperature, as well as any existing data on the thermal contact conductance of junctions containing Indium foil, also as a function of temperature?

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