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

After 50 Years of ASC and Magnet Conductors, What’s Next?

Past and present superconducting magnet technology suggests that cheap, strong, available-by-the-ton Nb-Ti alloy conductors will always be used unless it’s absolutely necessary to use another superconducting material. In this decade “absolutely necessary” has taken on a clearer definition, thanks to ITER, the upgrade of LHC, 1 GHz NMR magnets, the...

Laser Powered Cryocooling Drops to 91 K

Over the last couple of decades researchers around the world have been working on optical refrigeration, a new solid-state cooling scheme based on light-matter interactions, and a team of researchers from the University of New Mexico (UNM) and ThermoDynamic Films, LLC (TDF) is currently working to harness the physics of...

Testing JWST’s MIRI Cooler Compressor Assembly

The James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) Mid InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) cooler subsystem features a closed cycle helium Joule-Thomson (JT) cryocooler pre-cooled by a three-stage pulse tube cryocooler. In this paper, researchers from Northrop Grumman discuss tests conducted on the CCA, a flight model sub-assembly that compresses and precools MIRI's helium...

Cryogenic System to Cool Malaysian Data Center

An international consortium has announced plans to construct a green data center that features liquid submersion cooling at a location in Malaysia's Klang Valley. The project aims to increase the sustainability of data centers by changing the way facilities are cooled, therein reducing energy consumption by up to 50 percent,...

Fine-Tuned Cryogenic Clock Improves Computing Capabilities

Researchers from the University of Adelaide in South Australia have enhanced the cryogenic sapphire clock to achieve near attosecond capability. Also known as a microwave oscillator, the clock features a five cm cylinder-shaped crystal cooled to -269°C.

New Graphene Hybrid Exceeds DOE Goal for Hydrogen Storage

Layers of graphene separated by nanotube pillars of boron nitride may be a suitable material to store hydrogen fuel in cars, according to a new computational study from Rice University published in the journal Langmuir. The material held 14.77 percent of its weight in hydrogen at -321°F, exceeding both current...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Space Cryogenics

Space cryogenics is, somewhat obviously, the application of cryogenics to space exploration and science. The use of cryogenics in space optimizes the launching of vehicles, provides power and life support to spacecraft and is critical for many scientific observations.Space cryogenics has a number of challenges and has driven both pure...

Exergy

The science of thermodynamics plays a major role in cryogenics. It underlies the various refrigeration cycles, from Carnot to Brayton (Cold Facts Vol. 32 No. 2) and Joule-Thomson, is a fundamental part of the definition of terms such as coefficient of performance (Cold Facts Vol. 31 No. 1) and even...

Cryogenic Treatment

Cryogenic treatment is the process of cooling materials to cryogenic temperatures temporarily to improve their material properties at room temperature. This is distinct from cooling materials down to cryogenic temperatures to take advantage of phenomena such as superconductivity that only occur at cryogenic temperatures. Cryogenic treatment, sometimes also referred to...

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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