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Sudbury Underground Lab Becomes One of the Coolest Places on Earth

Deep underground in Sudbury’s SNOLAB, a major new experiment has just reached a critical milestone. The very centre of a series of large, nested copper vessels that make up the heart of the newest and one of the most sensitive detectors in the world has now reached a temperature a hundred...

Phantom Space Acquires Thermal Management Technologies to Advance Phantom Cloud Orbital Data Center Development

Phantom Space Corporation, a leader in responsive space transportation, announced it has completed the strategic acquisition of Thermal Management Technologies, LLC (TMT), a pioneer in advanced satellite thermal components. The acquisition strengthens Phantom’s vertical integration strategy and directly supports the rapid development of Phantom Cloud, the company’s orbital data center constellation. TMT...

Spin-Polarized Fusion Fuel Project Gets a Boost

A unique “spin” on fusion energy research is under development at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, fueling future efforts to harness the power of the stars for the world’s electrical grid.  The lab is part of a combined research endeavor exploring the survivability of a...

SuperCDM Experiment Reaches Critical Temperature to Unlock Search for Dark Matter

University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers working on the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) experiment are part of a team who successfully cooled the experiment to its base temperature—the temperature required for the superconducting detectors to become operational, which is hundreds of times colder than outer space. Reaching base...

Researchers Reveal New Method for Dialing Up Superconductivity

Researchers have discovered evidence that superconductivity can be controlled by influencing the surrounding environment, a finding that may lead to more efficient electronics down the road, according to a new study.  Superconductivity, or the ability of certain materials to conduct electric currents without any energy loss when cooled below a critical...

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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...

Primary Standards

Elie K. Track Hypres, Inc. elie@hypres.com http://www.hypres.com/ Primary standards involve the exact definition and realization of units of measurement for various quantities, time, length, mass, voltage, resistance, current, etc. International agreements based on the latest scientific knowledge define those units, and their realizations vary depending on the unit itself. For...

Shrink Fitting

Robin A. Rhodes Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. rrhodes@nitrofreeze.com Shrink fitting, (or “compression fitting” as it is sometimes called), is a method used to insert a pin or bushing into a housing or other assembly requiring an extremely tight tolerance fit. It can be used as an alternative to...

Telecommunications

From the Winter 2004 issue of Cold Facts magazine The recent M-Calc IV — 4th Industry Assessment workshop discussing military and commercial applications for low-cost cryocoolers, held in November in San Diego, highlighted progress being made in cryogenics as applied in telecommunications. The reliability and long lifetime of projects now...

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...

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...