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The Shipping Industry Looks for Green Fuels

Look at all the surrounding stuff. Unless you’re in the middle of the desert or somewhere else far from civilization, nearly everything you see traveled to you by sea. “Ships bring 80–90% of most everything you want or need, or the raw materials used for making those things,” says Natasha Brown,...

Breakthrough Quantum Hardware to be Made in USA

Maybell Quantum unveiled the Icebox, a cryogenic platform to power the next generation of quantum computers. Maybell’s condenses a room-sized cryogenic setup into a system slightly larger than a kitchen fridge, cooling quantum devices to just a few thousandths of a degree above absolute zero. Maybell’s Icebox solves several pressing challenges...

JILA Atomic Clocks Measure Einstein’s General Relativity at Millimeter Scale

Physicists from JILA (formerly known as the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, a physical science research institute at the University of Colorado Boulder campus and jointly operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST] and the University of Colorado Boulder) have measured Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity...

Ardent Concepts, Inc. Releases High-Density Ganged Coaxial Attenuators to Support Scale-up of Cryogenic and Quantum Computing Applications

Amphenol Ardent Concepts, a leading supplier of ganged coaxial connectors for use in cryogenic environments, has released high-density ganged coaxial attenuators for in-line use with the TR Multicoax™ series to support the many unique challenges of scaling up quantum computing applications for practical use. Density, substantial environmental changes, and an increasing need...

Fluoramics Eliminates Harmful Chemicals from Sealants and Lubricants in Cryogenic Pumps

California-based Cryogenic Machinery Corp. (CRYO-MACH) is one of the nation’s leading producers of cryogenic pumps. Founded in 1969, the company manufactures single-stage horizontal centrifugal pumps for many of the world’s largest industrial gas suppliers as well as the leading space exploration companies. According to CRYO-MACH General Manager Zack Swartz, the...

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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...

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...

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...