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NASA Readies Multiple Balloon Program Experiments

NASA's balloon program is currently preparing new missions bearing sensitive instruments, including one designed to investigate the birth of our universe and another with ballooning origins that will fly on the International Space Station.

ICARUS Arrives at Fermilab, Greeted by Familiar Face

The ICARUS detector ended its journey across the Atlantic on July 26, arriving by semi-truck at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Waiting for it there was Angela Fava, an experimental physicist who first worked with the machine in 2006, tightening bolts and connecting cables while an undergrad in Italy. In...

Construction Begins on International Megascience Neutrino Experiment

A groundbreaking ceremony on July 21 at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota, marked the official start of the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility, future home to the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (LBNF/DUNE). In the unique ceremony, a group of dignitaries, scientists and engineers from around the...

Oak Ridge National Lab Chooses D-Wave to Advance Computing Programs

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (CSA CSM) has chosen D-Wave Systems Inc., a leader in computing systems, to provide cloud systems to help advance its hybid computing applications. Under the agreement, ORNL scientists will have cloud access to a D-Wave 2000Q™ system that allows for exploration of hybrid computing architectures as...

Working Group Formed to Standardize Cryotherapy

The International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) has formed a new working group focused on whole-body cryotherapy. The group will focus on standardizing both exposure protocols and temperature measurements for all existing WBC devices and developing safety instructions for cold exposure.

Physicists Propose New Superfluid Helium-4 Wave Detector

A collaboration of US-based researchers has proposed a new type of detector that would measure sound waves caused by gravitational waves in the 0.1–1.5 kHz range. The system comprises several kilograms of superfluid helium-4 held in a cylindrical container that is coupled to microwaves in a superconductor resonator. Confinement in...

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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...

Cryogenic Treatment of Materials

F.J. Diekman Controlled Thermal Processing, Inc. info@metal-wear.com Cryogenic Processing (also called cryogenic treatment, and incorrectly “cryogenic tempering”) is a process that uses cryogenic temperatures to modify materials to enhance their performance. Cryogenic Processing involves the slow reduction in temperature of the material to at least -300°F (-185°C) and holding the...

Cryogenics in Space

Peter Kittel University of California-Berkeley pkittel@cal.berkeley.edu Space Cryogenics is the application of cryogenics to space missions. These applications fall into two broad areas, supporting space science missions and supporting the space transportation infrastructure. Science applications: The atmosphere is opaque to much of the electro-magnetic spectrum. In space, the absence of...

Cryosurgery

Review of Cryosurgery Boris Rubinsky, PhD Hebrew University School of Science and Engineering Research Center for Biomedical Engineering 78b Ross Building Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904 Israel rubinsky@cs.huji.ac.il as published in Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, August 2000, Vol. 2, pp. 157-187. Abstract: Cryosurgery is a surgical technique that employs freezing...

Liquefied Natural Gas

Liquefied Natural Gas as it relates to the Field of Cryogenics John W. Bonn VJ Systems, LLC johnbonn@vjsystems-lic.com Today the world is looking for a cleaner fuel and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plays a large part in achieving this goal. LNG in a liquid form is at -162°C (-259°F) and...

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...