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The “New” Space Mission–Cryogenic Bearings

Since the late 1990s, advancements in communication technology and the advent of GPS expanded the desire for companies and governments to invest in satellite technologies that operate in higher orbit. Today, companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Orbit, Relativity Space and ULA are developing cost-effective, reusable launch systems. Manufacturers understand...

Why the LNG Retrofit Revolution Has Cryospain at Work Across Land and Sea

What is it about liquefied natural gas (LNG) for transport that has Cryospain’s teams hard at work across continents and oceans, on existing and brand-new vehicles and all over the world? Within the context of the global challenge of slashing emissions, LNG as fuel is taking a more and more...

SHI Cryogenics Group: Promoting Emission-Reducing Initiatives for a More Sustainable Society

Whether designing shield coolers for life-saving MRIs, cryopumps for the latest smart device chips, or cryocoolers essential for hydrogen transportation, the SHI Cryogenics Group has been at the forefront of pioneering cryogenic technology for over 60 years. As an integral part of the Industrial Machinery Division of Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd....

What’s the Matter? STAR Cryoelectronics Builds Superconducting Quantum Sensors for X-ray Analysis and Dark Matter Searches

STAR Cryoelectronics, founded in 1999, is a leading worldwide supplier of advanced ultrasensitive quantum sensors and X-ray detectors based on superconductors and related control and readout electronics. The company also offers custom thin-film foundry services for superconductor electronics applications, cryogen-free, adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) cryostats, and high-resolution spectrometers based on...

KEYCOM Celebrates 30 Years of Worldwide Industry Standards

The computing elements of a quantum computer can only be operated properly when they are free of electronic noise. In order to achieve this state, it is necessary to realize an ultralow temperature environment in the millikelvins at a minimum. However, it is not enough to simply provide a dilution...

Novel Superconducting Magnet Thrusters to be Tested Out on Space Station

A New Zealand research institute and U.S. commercial firm Nanoracks are combining to send a superconducting magnet technology demonstrator to the International Space Station to test a novel type of space propulsion. The Paihau—Robinson Research Institute intends to test a type of electric space thruster known as applied-field magneto plasma dynamic...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Two-Phase Flows

Two-phase flows are those flows in which there is a mixture of two physical states (solid, liquid or vapor). In cryogenic applications, such flows are almost always a mixture of a cryogenic liquid along with its corresponding vapor. A mixture of liquid helium and helium vapor would be a typical...

Supercritical Fluids

A supercritical fluid is defined as a substance whose temperature and pressure exceed those of its critical point. Every pure substance has a critical point that is defined in thermodynamic space by a critical temperature and a corresponding critical pressure. For example, the critical point for helium has a critical...

Brayton Cycle

The Brayton cycle is one of the many thermodynamic cycles used to generate cooling at cryogenic temperatures. Strictly speaking, when referring to cooling we should call this the reverse Brayton cycle as the original Brayton cycle describes the process of power generation or propulsion via a gas turbine. In many...

Latest in Cryo Central

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...

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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