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Young Professionals 2018: The Next Generation in Cryogenics Part 1

Young Professionals introduces outstanding young professionals (under 40 years of age) who are doing interesting things in cryogenics and superconductivity and who show promise of making a difference in their fields. Debuted in the Summer 2006 issue, the feature has presented many young persons whom we are proud to see...

Experiment Seeks Neutrinoless Double-beta Decay

Collaborators of the Majorana Demonstrator, an experiment led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, have shown they can shield a sensitive, scalable 44-kilogram germanium detector array from background radioactivity.

Fertility Clinic Wireless Temperature Monitoring Protects the Irreplaceable

The recent back-to-back failures at two US fertility clinics are beyond stunning and have resulted in the loss of thousands of frozen human embryos. The breakdowns, which occurred in separate clinics in Cleveland and San Francisco, were apparently unrelated but nevertheless expose both the wonder and the fragility of this...

Boeing and Rolls Royce Back Self-creating Liquid Oxygen Engine

UK-based Reaction Engines Limited REL has raised an additional £26.5 million in funding from Boeing HorizonX Ventures and Rolls Royce for its SABRE engine project. Researchers plan to begin testing the engine in 2020. Engineers designed it to produce its own liquid oxygen by cooling air entering the engine during...

DOE Earmarks $39 Million for Hydrogen Fuel Cell R&D

The US Department of Energy announced up to $39 million in available funding to support early stage R&D for innovative hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. Concept papers are due May 7, 2018, and full applications will be due June 12, 2018.

MIT Spinoff Faces Challenges for its Planned Fusion Power Plant

Commonwealth Fusion Systems, an MIT spinoff based in Cambridge, aims to bring a fusion power plant online within 15 years—a timeline faster by decades than other fusion machines. The project will face a number of challenges, according to an analysis by IEEE, including fabricating and testing a new class of...

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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...

Air Separation and Liquefaction

by Nils Tellier, PE, President, EPSIM Corporation (CSA CSM) nils@epsim.us All illustrations courtesy EPSIM Corporation Background History of Air Separation and Liquefaction This section builds on a rich history of methods to develop deep refrigeration and cryogenic liquefaction during the 19th Century. You are encouraged to read Cryo Central’s History...

Bose-Einstein Condensate

A Bose-Einstein condensate, first proposed in 1925 by Albert Einstein based on work done by Satyendra Nath Bose (the same Bose from whom the term boson is derived), is a super-cold state of matter in which almost all of the individual atoms have “condensed” down to the lowest possible quantum...

Cold Technology for Pest Control

While it does not reach temperatures cold enough to be called cryogenic, carbon dioxide snow is at the heart of a new way of dealing with unwanted pests. It utilizes a quick freezing process that takes advantage of the properties of carbon dioxide snow and has a number of benefits...

Cryogenic Finishing

The following 3 articles discuss the uses and procedures of various type of cryogenic finishing. 1) By Robin A. Rhodes, Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. rrhodes@nitrofreeze.com Cryogenic Deflashing is employed to remove undesired residual mold flash that remains on molded parts after they are removed or ejected from the...

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...