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

Is Space Hibernation Possible? From Passengers Movie to NASA Research

The new sci-fi film “Passengers” is filled with action, romance and—like many a good space yarn—hibernation or sleep pods. A malfunction in the devices results in a 90-years too early wake-up call for the film's protagonists and re-awakens in the audience the notion of decades-long deep-space missions truncated through peaceful...

New Theoretical Framework for Improved Particle Accelerators

Physicists at the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), in collaboration with researchers in South Korea and Germany, have developed a theoretical framework for improving the stability and intensity of particle accelerator beams. Accelerator beams consist of billions of charged particles that zip through tunnels or...

Researchers to Open SESAME in 2017

Scientists and engineers at the first synchrotron radiation source in the Middle East have begun commissioning the machine, a significant milestone before officially starting operations in 2017. When fully operational, the SESAME facility in Allan, Jordan, will mark a major victory for science in the region.

NASA’s Cryogenics Test Lab Shares Expertise

When companies around the world want to understand the energy efficiency of a particular system or material, they often call on Kennedy Space Center’s Cryogenics Test Laboratory (CSA CSM). For the past 20 years, the lab has worked with industry partners to not only test materials but to help establish...

DOE Funds HTS Manufacturing Projects for Next Generation Machines

In late November, the US Department of Energy allocated $25 million to support 13 projects designed to advance technology used in industrial electric motors. The devices, according to the DOE, account for approximately 70 percent of the electricity consumed by US manufacturers and nearly a quarter of all electricity consumed...

Superconductivity of Bismuth Observed at .5 mK

Scientists from India report that pure Bismuth (Bi) is superconducting at ultralow temperatures, a discovery that cannot be explained by standard models of superconductivity.

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigeration

Reaching temperatures below 1K requires different techniques than the various helium gas cycles found in large scale refrigeration plants and small cryocoolers. One of these techniques is Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigeration (ADR). This technique takes advantage of the fact that the entropy of paramagnetic materials in a magnetic field is lower than...

Cryogen-Free

A cryogen is any fluid that operates at cryogenic temperatures (below roughly 150K – 120K). Using this definition, helium gas at 40K is a cryogen. Another more restrictive definition is to use cryogen to refer specifically to liquids at cryogenic temperatures. This is generally how it is used in the...

Cryostats and Cryocoolers

A cryostat is any device designed to maintain things (including fluids) at cryogenic temperatures. In general usage, cryostats tend to be passive devices rather than providing active cooling. In this usage, cryostats keep things cold by thermally isolating them from room temperature. This generally is accomplished by a combination of...

Latest in Cryo Central

Cryogenic Electronics

Randall Kirschman, consulting physicist, Mountain View, California ExtElect@gmail.com Cryogenic electronics—the operation of electronic devices, circuits, and systems at cryogenic temperatures—has been a valuable technology for decades. Cryogenic electronics (also referred to as low-temperature electronics, or cold electronics) can be based on semiconductive devices, on superconductive devices, or on a combination...

Particle Physics: High Energy Physics

Cryogenics and High-Energy Physics 1. From symmetry magazine: http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/cms/?pid=1000627: Cryogenics is the study of how materials behave at temperatures near absolute zero. In high-energy particle accelerators, such frigid temperatures reduce the electrical resistance of wires in superconducting magnets, increasing the magnet strength and allowing faster particle acceleration. The same holds...

HTS Degaussing Systems

From the Spring 2009 issue of Cold Facts (Volume 25, Number 2): Thanks to a joint project by the US Navy and a number of industry partners, high temperature superconducting (HTS) technology is now at the heart of an advanced degaussing system aboard the USS Higgins at the naval station...

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

From http://www.superconductors.org: An area where superconductors can perform a life-saving function is in the field of biomagnetism. Doctors need a non-invasive means of determining what’s going on inside the human body. By impinging a strong superconductor-derived magnetic field into the body, hydrogen atoms that exist in the body’s water and...

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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