Cold Facts Digital – Page 63 – The go-to place for Cryogenics and Superconductivity

Hawaiian Researchers Choose Cryogen-free MRI to Study Kidney Disease

MR Solutions has installed a cryocooler-based, and thus cryogen-free, preclinical MRI imaging system at the University of Hawaii to help researchers improve the rate of kidney disease detection. One in seven residents on the island has chronic kidney disease, a figure far higher than normal among its residents of Japanese,...

Health Officials in NY County Ban Liquid Nitrogen Treats

The Clinton County Board of Health has banned the sale of food products adulterated by liquid nitrogen. The move followed a study of Dragon's Breath, a dessert composed of cereal puffs frozen with liquid nitrogen, discussed on a New York State Association of County Health Officials conference call.

The Rise and Rise of Cryogenic Electron Microscopy

Speaking at the 68th Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting in Germany, biophysicist Joachim Frank says that the field of structural biology is entering a new era with a bright future thanks to advances in cryogenic electron microscopy. Cryo-EM rapidly freezes molecular samples in solution and images them with an electron beam...

DARPA Completes Engine Tests for Experimental Spaceplane Program

DARPA engineers have completed a test series on the AR-22 engine, advancing toward the agency's goal of developing an experimental spaceplane (XSP) capable of rapid turnaround and on-demand launches.

State Senator Writing Bill to Protect Embryos Stored in Cryo Systems

Ohio State Sen. Joe Schiavoni (D) is working on a bill to establish both guidelines and penalties for fertility clinics responsible for storing embryos at low temperature. More than 100 lawsuits have been filed against University Hospitals in Ohio after a failure of the group's liquid nitrogen systems in March...

General Atomics Awarded Contract for Cryofracture Munitions Destruction System

The US Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center has awarded General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems a contract to upgrade its portable prototype cryofracture system and perform additional design and procurement to interface the system with a rotary kiln incinerator.

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Helium-3

Helium-3 (3He) is one of the two stable isotopes of helium. The other is the much more common Helium-4 (4He). Neither of these isotopes should be confused with He II, which is the second liquid phase of 4He. He II was discussed in this column in the Spring 2010 edition...

Cryopumping

Cryopumping refers to the use of cryogenic temperatures to produce vacuum in enclosed spaces. More broadly, it can also refer to the removal of gases via cryogenic temperatures from a flow stream or enclosure without necessarily resulting in vacuum pressures. This is an important application of cryogenics and is used...

Thermal Acoustic Oscillations

Thermal Acoustic Oscillations (TAO) are a common event in cryogenic systems that can have significant adverse effects on the performance of the system. TAOs are sustained pressure oscillations that can occur in tubes containing gas, closed at one end (the warm end) that have a very large temperature gradient along...

Latest in Cryo Central

Cryogenic Electronics

Randall Kirschman, consulting physicist, Mountain View, California ExtElect@gmail.com Cryogenic electronics—the operation of electronic devices, circuits, and systems at cryogenic temperatures—has been a valuable technology for decades. Cryogenic electronics (also referred to as low-temperature electronics, or cold electronics) can be based on semiconductive devices, on superconductive devices, or on a combination...

Particle Physics: High Energy Physics

Cryogenics and High-Energy Physics 1. From symmetry magazine: http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/cms/?pid=1000627: Cryogenics is the study of how materials behave at temperatures near absolute zero. In high-energy particle accelerators, such frigid temperatures reduce the electrical resistance of wires in superconducting magnets, increasing the magnet strength and allowing faster particle acceleration. The same holds...

HTS Degaussing Systems

From the Spring 2009 issue of Cold Facts (Volume 25, Number 2): Thanks to a joint project by the US Navy and a number of industry partners, high temperature superconducting (HTS) technology is now at the heart of an advanced degaussing system aboard the USS Higgins at the naval station...

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

From http://www.superconductors.org: An area where superconductors can perform a life-saving function is in the field of biomagnetism. Doctors need a non-invasive means of determining what’s going on inside the human body. By impinging a strong superconductor-derived magnetic field into the body, hydrogen atoms that exist in the body’s water and...

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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