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

70% of the Rock Under Our Feet Can Produce Hydrogen. Tapping It Could Power Your Town

Enough hydrogen is leaking from a single mine to power hundreds of homes. Researchers say it’s far from unique. Hydrogen gas produced by geological processes beneath Earth’s surface has been touted as a promising clean energy source. A new study provides the first solid evidence that it could be a...

Quantum Sensors Use Atoms, Electrons and Light as Ultra‑Steady Rulers –Detecting Faint Motion, Magnetism and Gravity for Navigation, Medicine and Science

Quantum computers get a lot of attention, even though they are not ready for prime time, but quantum sensors are already doing useful work. These sensors measure fields, forces and motion so small that ordinary background noise can drown them out. Some sensors are already in daily use, while others...

Remembering our Friend, Ray Radebaugh (1939-2026)

The cryogenics community lost one of its most influential figures with the passing of Ray Radebaugh in February 2026. Over a career spanning more than five decades, Radebaugh helped shape modern cryogenic engineering through pioneering research, devoted mentorship and an unwavering willingness to share knowledge. His work on cryocoolers, dilution...

Cryogenics in Motion: Spaceline Delivers Advanced Nitrogen Trailer for NASA Armstrong

Spaceline Technologies, a fluid system engineering and manufacturing company, has completed a cryogenic nitrogen transport and supply trailer for NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center. This trailer is a mobile and standalone solution to provide pressure regulated nitrogen gas and liquid with flowrate and temperature control. Control of the trailer can...

Cryogenics and the Road to Superconducting Propulsion: Part I for Aircrafts

by Quan-Sheng Shu, cryospc.com and Jonathan Demko, Le Tourneau University Superconducting (SC) motors are pivotal for future transportation, offering power densities exceeding 20 kW/kg. Cooling philosophies diverge by architecture: partially superconducting aircraft designs (like NASA’s HEMM) utilize integrated mechanical cryocoolers for the rotor, whereas fully superconducting aircraft favor liquid hydrogen...

Pelican Wire Designs for Cryogenic and Extreme Energy Systems

As renewable energy, electrification and advanced research technologies continue to expand, the demands placed on wire and cable systems are evolving just as rapidly. Higher power densities, tighter system integration and increasingly extreme operating environments are pushing manufacturers beyond traditional commodity wire solutions. Caleb Lemmons, Business Development Manager at Pelican...

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

Primary Standards

Elie K. Track Hypres, Inc. elie@hypres.com http://www.hypres.com/ Primary standards involve the exact definition and realization of units of measurement for various quantities, time, length, mass, voltage, resistance, current, etc. International agreements based on the latest scientific knowledge define those units, and their realizations vary depending on the unit itself. For...

Shrink Fitting

Robin A. Rhodes Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. rrhodes@nitrofreeze.com Shrink fitting, (or “compression fitting” as it is sometimes called), is a method used to insert a pin or bushing into a housing or other assembly requiring an extremely tight tolerance fit. It can be used as an alternative to...

Telecommunications

From the Winter 2004 issue of Cold Facts magazine The recent M-Calc IV — 4th Industry Assessment workshop discussing military and commercial applications for low-cost cryocoolers, held in November in San Diego, highlighted progress being made in cryogenics as applied in telecommunications. The reliability and long lifetime of projects now...

Wind Tunnels

Dr. Robert Kilgore The development of the cryogenic wind tunnel is one of many significant breakthroughs in both cryogenics and wind-tunnel technology made during the past millennium. Interest in the development of high-speed commercial and military aircraft resulted in a review of problems of flow simulation in transonic wind tunnels...

Latest in Ask the Experts

Seeking recommendations for commercial sensors

I would like to measure vibrations in small LHe cryostats. Could anybody recommend commercial sensors which would be suitable for the purpose? I am interested in the frequency range between 1Hz and a couple of KHz, with particular attention to the low frequency side.

Estimating cost of carbon steel, pure helium storage tanks

In order to perform an indicative cost assessment of our helium cryogenic plant (still in the design phase), I need an estimation of the cost of carbon steel room temperature pure helium storage tanks. The storage pressure is 20 bar. Can anyone give me suggestions about how to estimate the...

Supplier of pressure sensor that works down to 4.2 K

In an actual experiment we would like to measure the static pressure in a cryostat in the range between one and four bar. Therefore we are looking for some (more or less) cheap pressure sensors that work in liquid helium in the pressure range up to five bar. Unfortunately all...

Looking for reference/textbook suggestions

Can you suggest some reference textbooks for practical thermodynamics applications in cryogenic fields? I need textbooks with cryogenics calculations and examples, dimensioning procedures, second principle applications in cryogenics, heat load calculations, cryogenic pump application, etc. Do such books exist? Does any similar source of information exist?

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