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Cryogenics Goes Radioactive in Search for Big Bang Neutrinos

Princeton University's Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is readying a facility to detect Big Bang neutrinos by capturing them in tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. The state-of-the-art project is named PTOLEMY, both as an homage to the second century Greek astronomer and as an acronym for Princeton Tritium Observatory for...

DOE Announces $25 Million to Develop Next Gen Electric Machines for Industrial Energy Savings

The Department of Energy (DOE) on March 11 announced $25 million in funding aimed at advancing technologies for energy-efficient electric motors through applied R&D. The DOE intends to select eight to twelve projects that leverage recent technical advancements in nanomaterials research, high temperature superconductivity, magnet development and deployment of lead-free,...

NASA Glenn Invites the Public To Go Behind-The-Scenes

NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland will open its doors once a month beginning April 2 for a behind-the-scenes, one-hour guided tour of one of its world-class research facilities. Glenn tours, held through October, are part of NASA Glenn's 75th Anniversary. Two open house opportunities at Lewis Field in Cleveland...

Preserving the Innocents: Biosample Storage at -190°C

by Julian Warhurst, julian.warhurst@brooks.com; John Fink, john.fink@brooks.com; Tiffany Holmes, tiffany.holmes@brooks.com; Matthew Albert, matthew.albert@brooks.com; Bruce Zandi, bruce.zandi@brooks.com It seems to be universally accepted that storing at -190°C in a liquid nitrogen (LN2 )vapor-phase freezer is the best technique for biosample preservation. Brooks Automation (CSA CSM) decided to explore this idea further,...

Scientists Prep for DUNE Neutrino Study

Over 150 physicists from around the world collided at The University of Texas at Arlington in early January to further collaboration on DUNE, the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. The international project, scheduled for completion in the early 2020s, will shoot a neutrino beam from Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (CSA CSM)...

Superconducting Radio Frequency Activities at CERN

CERN has a long history in superconducting radio frequency (SRF) technology. What started with a few SRF cavities in the 1980s has now become a major field of activity. Today CERN is not only running a variety of superconducting RF installations and projects but is also preparing for a new...

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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...

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...

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...