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

MRI Scans Help Spot HIV in the Brain

Scientists at University College London have developed a way to use MRI scans to help identify when HIV is persisting in the brain despite effective drug treatment. The team looked at data from 146 HIV patients who were investigated for cognitive problems between 2011 and 2015. There was evidence that...

Liquid or Gas, DUNE Researchers Weigh Transport of Detector’s Argon

Nearly a mile below the surface of South Dakota, scientists are preparing the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, or DUNE, a physics experiment that will look at minuscule particles called neutrinos. A beam of neutrinos will travel 800 miles through the Earth from Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (CSA CSM) to the...

Nominations Open for New KEK Director-General

Japan's KEK, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, has announced a worldwide search for its next Director-General, whose term will begin April 1, 2018, and last for three years.

Winners Announced for 2017 Fritz London Memorial Prize

Duke University has announced recipients of its 2017 Fritz London Memorial Prize, choosing Jeevak Parpia of Cornell University and William P. Halperin and James A. Sauls, both from Northwestern University.

Boiloff Calorimetry for the Measurement of Very Low Heat Flows

The use of boiloff calorimetry to measure the effects of thermal energy (or heat) dates back to the early 1900s [1, 2]. Gas flow rates measured in evaporation—or boiloff—calorimetry enable direct calculation of quantities such as heat flux and thermal conductivity. A particularly useful approach is to use nitrogen for...

Remembering the 1987 Woodstock of Physics

Paul Michael Grant was in the room where it happened, and in this essay, he recalls the 1987 APS March Meeting known as the "Woodstock of Physics." It began when Brian Maple, of UC San Diego, took the unprecedented and ambitious step of assembling an “off the program” all night...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Regenerators

Regenerators or regenerative heat exchangers are a key component of cryocoolers such as pulse tube cryocoolers (Cold Facts, August 2014). Regenerator performance greatly affects the coefficient of performance of cryocoolers. Improvements in regenerator design and, in particular, regenerator materials have been an important factor in the improvement of the performance...

Pulse Tube Cryocoolers

The development of pulse tube cryocoolers has been a significant topic of research and development over the past 20 or so years. Pulse tube cryocoolers have a number of advantages over other types of cryocoolers and are now available commercially. In order to understand pulse tube cryocoolers, it’s best to...

Thermal Expansion

Thermal expansion refers to the change in size (length or volume) that a material undergoes as its temperature changes. In cryogenic systems this effect can be quite large and must be allowed for in the design. In isotropic materials, which include most engineering materials, the thermal expansion is the same...

Latest in Cryo Central

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...

Latest in Ask the Experts

Power usage: cryogenic systems vs. regular refrigerators

A recent project highlighted to me that closed cycle cryogenic cooling systems use far more electrical power to reduce temperatures by a few watts than regular refrigerators. I am sure it must be something to do with the extra difficulty of removing the heat from the liquid nitrogen or similar...

Redundancy strategies for mechanical -80C freezers

I was wondering what kind of redundancy strategies are people using for their mechanical -80C freezers? I am aware of the following. Please add if you are doing something different. 1) 1 Backup freezer for every 10 freezers – Empty and maintained at -80C at all times 2) Backup C02...

Safety guidelines for handling cryo vessels of nitrogen

I am looking for any safety guidelines for handling cryogenic vessels of nitrogen indoors and outdoors. I am especially interested in recommendations for area monitors to detect leaks, flow detection devices, etc.

Method to move components in a cryogenic environment

Does anyone know of a method with which to reliably move components in a cryogenic environment? We are interested in moving detectors in a cryogenically cooled (2K) vacuum chamber, which is contained within a larger cryostat/isolation vacuum with thermal shields. As the desired horizontal or vertical displacement is between 10...

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