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Allen Dufort: Coding a cutting-edge space telescope

In July, as the world marveled at the first images of the Cosmic Cliffs and previously invisible areas of star birth revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope, Allen Dufort felt excited that he’d soon make his own contributions to space exploration. As a software engineer intern, Dufort is supporting Brown...

Cryogenic Operation of LEDs Results in Improved Quantum Efficiency

Terrestrial gravitational wave detectors have been used to identify various gravitational wave sources. For example, researchers have detected potential black hole neutron star mergers, binary neutron star inspirals, and binary black hole mergers via the advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). The aLIGO detectors’ most sensitive band is limited by thermal...

3D Systems Announces Copper-nickel Alloy for PBF-LB

3D Systems has announced CuNi30 – a corrosion-resistant, copper-nickel alloy for use with its DMP Flex 350, metal additive manufacturing machine. The material is a result from the company’s collaboration with HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division to develop materials and process parameters for the Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) process. “We’re...

Nikkiso to Bring Hydrogen Fueling Stations to California, South Korea, and Germany

Nikkiso Clean Energy & Industrial Gases Group was awarded multiple contracts for over a dozen locations. Nikkiso Clean Energy & Industrial Gases Group (CE&IG), a part of the Japanese company Nikkiso Co., Ltd group of companies, has announced that it was awarded several contracts for providing over a dozen hydrogen fueling...

NASA’s Cold Atom Lab Experiments with Exotic State of Matter

Since the days of NASA’s Apollo program, astronauts have documented (and contended with) how liquids like water behave differently in microgravity than they do on Earth – coalescing into floating spheres instead of bottom-heavy droplets. Now, researchers have demonstrated this effect with a much more exotic material: gas cooled to...

Temperatures Colder Than Space, Achieved on Earth Through X-ray Laser

A half-mile-long tunnel under Menlo Park, Calif., has become colder than most of the universe because of a particle accelerator that slams electrons together here on Earth. Using the X-ray free-electron laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory – part of an upgrade project to the Linac Coherent...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Dilution Refrigerators

Dilution refrigerators are a common technique for reaching temperatures below 1K, particularly where continuous cooling at these temperatures is required. Helium exists in two stable isotopes: 4He and 3He. Naturally occurring 3He is extremely rare, constituting less than 1 part per million of helium gas. However, 3He can be manufactured,...

Oxygen Deficiency Hazards

Oxygen Deficiency Hazards (ODH) are a significant safety issue in cryogenic facilities. ODH occurs when inert gases such as nitrogen, helium or argon displace room air and thus lower the percentage of oxygen in the space below that required for human life. OSHA defines an area as oxygen deficient if...

Kelvin Temperature Scale

The Kelvin temperature scale is the principal temperature scale used in cryogenics and science. The kelvin is also one of the seven base units in the Système International d’Unités (SI) and is the unit of thermodynamic temperature. Thermodynamic temperature is a fundamental physical quantity (like mass, length or electrical current)...

Latest in Cryo Central

Wind Tunnels

Dr. Robert Kilgore The development of the cryogenic wind tunnel is one of many significant breakthroughs in both cryogenics and wind-tunnel technology made during the past millennium. Interest in the development of high-speed commercial and military aircraft resulted in a review of problems of flow simulation in transonic wind tunnels...

History of Cryogenics

From the Fall 1999 issue of Cold Facts magazine Millennium Breakthroughs A variety of CSA members give different perspectives on the past millennium: What were the most significant breakthroughs in cryogenics during the past millennium? Prof. R.G. Scurlock, Kryos Technology, scurlock@soton.ac.uk (“Breakthrough” = way through obstacles — Oxford English Dictionary)...

Cryobiology

Andreas Sputtek Past President Society for Cryobiology sputtek@uke.uni-hamburg.de or http://www.sputtek.de/. The word cryobiology (from the Greek words “cryo” = cold, “bios” = life, and “logos” = science) literally signifies the science of life at low temperatures. In practice, this field comprises the study of any biological material or system (e.g.,...

Cryogenic Insulation

James E. Fesmire Cryogenics Test Laboratory NASA Kennedy Space Center james.e.fesmire@nasa.gov Introduction In today’s world, the use of cryogenics and low-temperature refrigeration is taking a more and more significant role. From the food industry, transportation, energy, and medical applications to the Space Shuttle, cryogenic liquids must be stored, handled, 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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