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DOE to Invest $30 Million in Hydrogen and Fuel Cells

The Department of Energy has announced its intent to invest $30 million to advance fuel cell and hydrogen technologies. Associated projects, subject to appropriations, will leverage national lab consortia launched under DOE’s Energy Materials Network (EMN) this past year and will support President Obama’s Materials Genome Initiative and advanced manufacturing...

Hydrogen Power Ruled Feasible for High-Speed Ferry

Nearly two years ago, Sandia National Laboratories researchers Joe Pratt and Lennie Klebanoff set out to answer one not-so-simple question: Is it feasible to build and operate a high-speed passenger ferry solely powered by hydrogen fuel cells? The answer is yes.

CGA Announces New Process Safety Committee

In an email to its members, the Compressed Gas Association announced the formation of a new Process Safety Committee to address process safety concerns and gaps that affect the industrial gas industry.

Auguste Acquires Taylor-Wharton’s European Operations

Auguste Cryogenics SK s.r.o. has acquired Taylor-Wharton International’s European Operations, including a cryogenic pressure vessel manufacturing facility, Taylor-Wharton Slovakia s.r.o., and the related warehouse and office complex of Taylor-Wharton Germany GmbH. Auguste says all employees have been retained and that the facilities will continue to operate under the Taylor-Wharton brand...

XFEL Commissions New X-ray Laser

Engineers at European XFEL, a large international research facility with 11 European member countries, have begun commissioning a 3.4-km-long underground X-ray laser. When operational, the laser will generate extremely short and bright X-ray light flashes that will enable new views of the structure and fast processes of the nanocosmos. Applications...

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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...

Magnetic Levitation

From http://www.superconductors.org. Magnetic-levitation is an application where superconductors perform extremely well. Transport vehicles such as trains can be made to “float” on strong superconducting magnets, virtually eliminating friction between the train and its tracks. Not only would conventional electromagnets waste much of the electrical energy as heat, they would have...

Superconductivity

From Superpower website. History of Superconductivity Superconductivity was discovered in 1911 by the Dutch physicist, Heike Kammerlingh Onnes when he was able to liquefy helium by cooling it to 4 Kelvin, or -452°F. This enabled him to cool other materials close to absolute zero and investigate their electrical properties. He...

Medical Applications of Cryogenics

Neutron Therapy Cryogenics is at the heart of nuclear accelerators. Accelerators such as Fermilab’s Tevatron make neutron therapy for cancer possible. From Fermilab Today 4/20/09: Fermilab currently offers neutron therapy. But staff at Fermilab designed and built the proton accelerator used by the nation’s first hospital-based treatment center to use...

Nuclear Physics

Al Zeller National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab (NSCL) at Michigan State University zeller@nscl.msu.edu Cryogenics has a long history in nuclear physics. The technology has its origins in the use of cold traps for maintaining a vacuum, which is required to prevent beam loss and for generating high voltages used in acceleration....

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...