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Liquid Air Energy Storage: How Cryogenics Can Support a Greener Grid

The LAES system charges using an industrial air liquefier based on the Claude cycle used on the front end of existing air separation units. Electricity from the grid is used to produce liquid air at close to ambient pressure, thus avoiding the excessive cost of containing a high-pressure fluid in...

VNR Advances New Process to Ensure Reliability of Space-Flight-Critical Fasteners

In October 1989, while investigating the crash landing of United Flight 232 in Sioux City, the NTSB located the fan disk from the plane’s number two engine in a cornfield near Alta, Iowa. It was in two pieces, ripped apart, the agency later determined, when an undetected metallurgical defect resulted...

Chart Acquires VCT Vogel

On September 1, Chart Industries, Inc. (CSA CSM) announced its acquisition of VCT Vogel GmbH, a German firm servicing cryogenic and other mobile gas tank equipment and trucks. Founded in 2001, VCT has established itself as a provider of truck-mounted drive and control systems for the operation of cryogenic pumps...

New Director General at ESO

Xavier Barcons became the eighth director general of the European Southern Observatory on September 1, succeeding Tim de Zeeuw who had served since 2007. Barcons begins his tenure at an exciting time for ESO, as construction of its Extremely Large Telescope is progressing and it is set to see first...

New Report Buffers Possibility for Molecular Level Data Storage

New research from the University of Manchester (UK) suggests that storing data with a class of molecules known as single-molecule magnets is more feasible than previously thought. The result, published in Nature, shows that magnetic hysteresis, a memory effect that is a prerequisite of any data storage, is possible in...

Brooks Automation Expands Stored Sample Monitoring

Brooks Automation, Inc. (CSA CSM) has acquired FreezerPro® and other assets from RURO, Inc., a Maryland-based developer of computer software for research, biotechnological, pharmaceutical, healthcare and government laboratories. The software enables web-based access to information on stored samples from any location on any device.

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

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...

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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