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A Brief Report on the First Cooldown of SPIRAL2

Over the last 10 years, a multidisciplinary team from institutes around the world has worked to design, fabricate and assemble SPIRAL2, a new generation heavy ion superconducting linear accelerator (LINAC) at the Grand Accélérateur National d’Ions Lourds (GANIL) facility in Caen, France.

SSRL X-ray Uncovers Hidden Ancient Text

More than 1,600 scientists from all over the world use the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsourse (SSRL) at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory each year for research that spurs advances in medicine, energy production, environmental cleanup, nanotechnology and new materials. And now, a multidisciplinary team has used the machine’s acceleratordriven X-rays to...

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...

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Dewar

A dewar is a type of cryostat named after Sir James Dewar, the researcher who first developed the concept of a vacuum insulated container with silvered walls to reflect thermal radiation. Dewar was the first to liquefy hydrogen, and he created the device to store his discovery. The thermos bottle...

Stirling and Gifford-McMahon Cryocoolers

Stirling and Gifford-McMahon (GM) cryocoolers are two of the most commonly used cryocoolers in cryogenics. Both devices have a significant industrial base and operate at a wide range of temperatures and capacities. The thermodynamic cycles for both of these cryocoolers are quite similar. The Stirling cycle consists of a compressor,...

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

A significant commercial application of cryogenics is the liquefaction, transport and storage of natural gas. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is generally 95 percent methane with a few percent ethane and much lower concentrations of propane and butane. LNG liquefies at 111.6 K. Unlike many applications of cryogenics, the motivation for...

Magnetic Levitation

From http://www.superconductors.org. Magnetic-levitation is an application where superconductors perform extremely well. Transport vehicles such as trains can be made to “float” on strong superconducting magnets, virtually eliminating friction between the train and its tracks. Not only would conventional electromagnets waste much of the electrical energy as heat, they would have...

Superconductivity

From Superpower website. History of Superconductivity Superconductivity was discovered in 1911 by the Dutch physicist, Heike Kammerlingh Onnes when he was able to liquefy helium by cooling it to 4 Kelvin, or -452°F. This enabled him to cool other materials close to absolute zero and investigate their electrical properties. He...

Medical Applications of Cryogenics

Neutron Therapy Cryogenics is at the heart of nuclear accelerators. Accelerators such as Fermilab’s Tevatron make neutron therapy for cancer possible. From Fermilab Today 4/20/09: Fermilab currently offers neutron therapy. But staff at Fermilab designed and built the proton accelerator used by the nation’s first hospital-based treatment center to use...

Nuclear Physics

Al Zeller National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab (NSCL) at Michigan State University zeller@nscl.msu.edu Cryogenics has a long history in nuclear physics. The technology has its origins in the use of cold traps for maintaining a vacuum, which is required to prevent beam loss and for generating high voltages used in acceleration....

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...