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

Extreme Cool – Making Liquid Nitrogen in a Deep Underground Clean Lab

SNOLAB is Canada’s deep underground research laboratory, located two kilometers underground in Vale’s Creighton mine near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. SNOLAB is a unique facility, providing a low background environment designed for scientific research and operates a 5,000m2 underground campus as a class-2000 clean lab. While the science program is focused...

Cryogenic Bubble Interaction: Challenges, Motivation and Potential Benefits in Cryosurgery

Cryogenic fluid management systems use pumps, turbines, pipes (chilldown lines), valves/orifice, etc., operating at very low temperatures (below 120 K) that are at considerable risk of heat-inleak from ambient surroundings (300 K). This leads to the development of a multiphase environment, consisting of both liquid and vapor, and manifests as...

A Quarter-Century Industry Experience Brings About New Company

After 25 years in the high-tech cryogenics field, while employed at Cryogenic Technical Services (CTS) and High Precision Devices (HPD) and working with some of the best scientific minds in the world, Charlie Danaher started Danaher Cryogenics in early 2022 to respond to the ever-increasing demand for elegant, collaborative solutions...

Are We Alone in the Cosmos? Space Dynamics Lab to Help Answer the Question

Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory (USU SDL) announced in May 2022 that it has delivered a critical subsystem to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for integration onto the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. The Cryogenic Thermal Subsystem for the Roman Coronagraph Instrument was delivered to JPL at SDL’s facilities...

Artemis Updates: Teams Continue to Review Options for Next Attempt, Prepare to Replace Seal and Replenish Liquid Hydrogen Loading Operations

After standing down on the Artemis I launch attempt Saturday, Sept. 3 due to a hydrogen leak, teams have decided to replace the seal on an interface, called the quick disconnect, between the liquid hydrogen fuel feed line on the mobile launcher and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket while at the launch...

Turboexpanders Are Key Components to the Energy Transition

With the energy sector looking to decarbonize, the transition away from hydrocarbons is underway, with hydrogen taking center stage in many of the industry’s roadmaps. Georgia-based Chart Industries (NYSE: GTLS) has responded to this interest by bolstering its offering of products and technologies that enable the industry to move away...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Refrigerators and Liquefiers

Two of the most common terms used in cryogenics are “refrigerator” and “liquefier.” These terms describe similar and, as will be seen, in some cases identical components. A refrigerator provides cooling (that is, absorbs heat) at cryogenic temperatures. Refrigerators typically put a working fluid (such as helium) through one of...

Air Separation

Air separation is one of the largest, as well as earliest, industrial applications of cryogenics. In this process, cryogenic temperatures are used to separate air into its constituent gases: nitrogen (78.08%), oxygen (20.95%), argon (0.93%) and carbon dioxide (0.3%). Trace gases such as krypton, neon, xenon and helium total far...

Coefficient of Performance and Figure of Merit

The coefficient of performance (COP) is used to describe the effectiveness of refrigerators, including those operating at cryogenic temperatures. The COP is defined as the amount of heat removed at the cryogenic operating temperature of the refrigerator divided by the amount of work that must be applied to remove the...

Latest in Cryo Central

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...

Cryogenic Treatment of Materials

F.J. Diekman Controlled Thermal Processing, Inc. info@metal-wear.com Cryogenic Processing (also called cryogenic treatment, and incorrectly “cryogenic tempering”) is a process that uses cryogenic temperatures to modify materials to enhance their performance. Cryogenic Processing involves the slow reduction in temperature of the material to at least -300°F (-185°C) and holding the...

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?

CATEGORIES