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

Microscopic Trampoline Absorbs Energy and Bounces Light in Quantum Systems

Researchers from JILA, a joint institute of the University of Colorado Boulder and NIST, have developed a device that uses a small plate to absorb microwave energy and bounce it into laser light, calling this microscopic trampoline a crucial step for sending quantum signals over long distances.

Dearman Expands Liquid Nitrogen Engine Options in US and Europe

Dearman has expanded its Hubbard zero emission transport refrigeration unit with a nosemount option that allows a slimmer fit of the engine and closer integration with the refrigeration system.

Scientists Report Control of Electron Spins Connected to Superconductor

Scientists from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen have, for the first time, succeeded in producing, controlling and understanding complex quantum states based on two electron spins connected to a superconductor. The samples, according to the study published in Nature Communications, were mounted in a dilution refrigerator...

NASA Again Delays James Webb, Targets 2021

In a video statement, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced that the agency has again delayed its complex James Webb telescope mission, this time to March 2021. The decision was reached after an assessment from an independent review board. The group also increased the estimated cost of the mission to $9.66...

Work Begins to Boost LHC Luminosity

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN officially entered a new stage with a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of the civil-engineering work for its High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) upgrade. By 2026, this major project will considerably improve the performance of the LHC, increasing the number of collisions in the...

NOvA Reports Strong Evidence for Antineutrino Oscillation

For more than three years, scientists on the NOvA collaboration have observed neutrino particles as they oscillate from one type to another over a distance of 500 miles. Now, in a new result unveiled at the Neutrino 2018 conference in Heidelberg, Germany, the collaboration announced its first results using antineutrinos,...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Mixed Refrigerant Cycles

Most cryogenic refrigeration systems, both large scale systems and cryocoolers, use helium as a working fluid. There are a number of advantages to helium, not the least of which is that helium remains a fluid down to the lowest achievable temperatures. In order to freeze helium, pressures of over 20...

Fountain Pumps and He II Phase Separators

Helium II (He II), the second liquid phase of the 4He isotope described in this column in Cold Facts Spring 2010 (http://2csa.us/he2), can be modeled as consisting of two interpenetrating fluids. One, the superfluid component, has zero viscosity and entropy and the other, the normal fluid component, has nonzero viscosity...

Turboexpanders

A vital technology in the refrigerators and liquefiers described in Cold Facts Volume 31 Number 3 is that of turboexpanders. These devices are rotating machines in which the process fluid (e.g., helium) does work against the turboexpander while moving from high pressure to a lower pressure and thus is cooled....

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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