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

Journey of the Maglev

In early January 2022, a prototype mag- lev train was rolled out in southwest China’s city of Chengdu, one of the latest developments in magnetic levitation trains. The domestically developed locomotive uses high temperature superconducting and will travel with a designed speed of 620 km/h, according to Southwest Jiaotong University,...

The GigaSphere: Game Changer for Next Generation of Clean Energy

Large spheres have been used to store liquid hydrogen for decades. In fact, two 3,218 cubic meter (850,000 gallon) liquid hydrogen storage spheres have supported space flight pro- grams at the Kennedy Space Center since the mid-1960s. Currently, NASA plans to use the latest and largest liquid hydro- gen tank ever...

Eta Space Develops Cryogenic Propellant Depots for Earth and Space

Eta Space, a new space company dedicated to developing advanced cryogenic systems for the modern space and energy age, is celebrating its three-year anniversary in June with milestones scheduled for several key projects. Eta Space is developing LOXSAT, a 135 kg demonstration satellite designed to test critical cryogenic fluid management (CFM) technologies...

Penflex Controls Pressure at the Intersection of Vacuum and Cryogenic Sciences

Vacuum technologies have advanced the field of cryogenics, allowing researchers to push the frontiers of what we know and businesses to apply that knowledge and drive innovation across a wide range of industries. The intersection of vacuum and cryogenic sciences is a demanding one. Pressure and temperature requirements create a...

Another Primary Webb Space Telescope Instrument Gets the “Go for Science”

Recently, NIRISS, one of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s four primary scientific instruments concluded its postlaunch preparations and was declared ready for science. Now a second of Webb’s four primary scientific instruments, known as the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), has also concluded its postlaunch preparations and is now ready for science. MIRI’s coronagraphic imaging...

Physicists Find a Shortcut to Seeing an Elusive Quantum Glow

Theoretical physics is full of weird and wonderful concepts: wormholes, quantum foam and multiverses, just to name a few. The problem is that while such things easily emerge from theorists’ equations, they are practically impossible to create and test in a laboratory setting. But for one such “untestable” theory, an...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Regenerators

Regenerators or regenerative heat exchangers are a key component of cryocoolers such as pulse tube cryocoolers (Cold Facts, August 2014). Regenerator performance greatly affects the coefficient of performance of cryocoolers. Improvements in regenerator design and, in particular, regenerator materials have been an important factor in the improvement of the performance...

Pulse Tube Cryocoolers

The development of pulse tube cryocoolers has been a significant topic of research and development over the past 20 or so years. Pulse tube cryocoolers have a number of advantages over other types of cryocoolers and are now available commercially. In order to understand pulse tube cryocoolers, it’s best to...

Thermal Expansion

Thermal expansion refers to the change in size (length or volume) that a material undergoes as its temperature changes. In cryogenic systems this effect can be quite large and must be allowed for in the design. In isotropic materials, which include most engineering materials, the thermal expansion is the same...

Latest in Cryo Central

Air Separation and Liquefaction

by Nils Tellier, PE, President, EPSIM Corporation (CSA CSM) nils@epsim.us All illustrations courtesy EPSIM Corporation Background History of Air Separation and Liquefaction This section builds on a rich history of methods to develop deep refrigeration and cryogenic liquefaction during the 19th Century. You are encouraged to read Cryo Central’s History...

Bose-Einstein Condensate

A Bose-Einstein condensate, first proposed in 1925 by Albert Einstein based on work done by Satyendra Nath Bose (the same Bose from whom the term boson is derived), is a super-cold state of matter in which almost all of the individual atoms have “condensed” down to the lowest possible quantum...

Cold Technology for Pest Control

While it does not reach temperatures cold enough to be called cryogenic, carbon dioxide snow is at the heart of a new way of dealing with unwanted pests. It utilizes a quick freezing process that takes advantage of the properties of carbon dioxide snow and has a number of benefits...

Cryogenic Finishing

The following 3 articles discuss the uses and procedures of various type of cryogenic finishing. 1) By Robin A. Rhodes, Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. rrhodes@nitrofreeze.com Cryogenic Deflashing is employed to remove undesired residual mold flash that remains on molded parts after they are removed or ejected from the...

Latest in Ask the Experts

Any experience with G-10 in an extremely cold environment?

I have a cryostat with closed cycle cryocooler attached. The case is aluminum with a G-10 spacer between the case and a stainless steel bellows that supports the cryocooler.

Designing a liquid oxygen bath

I’m designing a Liquid Oxygen Bath to place composite coupons in the bath and soak 96 samples for intervals of 8 hours, 24 hours, 7 days, 21 days, 42 days, 62 days and 90 days.

School science projects involving cryogenics and metallurgy?

Can you recommend any school science projects that would involve cryogenics and metallurgy?

Metallic Salts Normally Used to Produce Ultra-Low Temperatures?

Regarding the method known as the Adiabatic Demagnetization of Paramagnetic Salts: What metallic salts are normally used to produce the ultra-low temperatures used for near-absolute-zero cryogenic research? Which salts are the most efficient? Which make the best cooling agents? And which are used most commonly by physicists? I am looking...

CATEGORIES