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ITER Takes First Steps Toward Cryoplant Commissioning

Every week since the beginning of November, a tube trailer filled with approximately 4,600 cubic meters (750 kg) of compressed gaseous helium delivers its load to the ITER cryoplant in the south of France. At a later stage, the deliveries will become more massive, as helium is delivered in liquid...

Jefferson Lab Accelerator Gets a Fresh Pair of Eyes

A newly invented detector is allowing physicists at the US Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (CSA CSM) to “see” neutrons like never before. Fresh insight from these devices has improved operation of the lab’s powerful electron accelerator, which is used in nuclear physics studies of the atom’s...

Over a Year Later, Construction Continues to Progress on PIP-II Cryoplant Building

Ground broke on the PIP-II Cryogenic Plant Building in July 2020 at Fermilab (CSA CSM) and construction began that August. This project is integral to PIP-II’s success, as the building will house cryogenic equipment that will cool the accelerator and mechanical, as well as electric utilities for the linac complex.

Cryogenic Submerged Motor Pumps Sales to Increase by 1.4x as Demand for LNG Grows by 3.8%

Cryogenic submerged motor pumps market to top $2.5 bn driven by increasing demand for natural gas. In its new study, Fact.MR offers a holistic overview of the pricing analysis and trends of the global cryogenic submerged motor pumps market. In addition, it highlights detailed information about major growth opportunities, drivers,...

Valcor Release Cryogenic Launch Vehicle Valves White Paper

One of the biggest challenges to designing valves for launch vehicle applications, particularly for the upper stages, is meeting flow requirements within tight envelope and weight specifications. Valcor, a company that specializes in the design and manufacture of pilot-operated valves capable of achieving high flows in a compact and lightweight...

Startup Displays India’s First Privately Developed, 3D-Printed Cryogenic Engine

Hyderabad-based startup Skyroot Aerospace has successfully demonstrated the country’s first privately developed cryogenic rocket engine named Dhawan-1 after eminent rocket scientist Satish Dhawan. The company will use the engine as the upper stage of its Vikram-2 launch vehicle.

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

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...

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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