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

New RF-SQUID Material Invisible to Microwave Radiation

University of Maryland (UMD) physicists and engineers from HYPRES (CSA CSM) have developed a new RF-SQUID cloaking material that can become transparent to microwave radiation with the flip of a switch. The new material could be used to design more efficient communications networks since many wireless communication devices rely on...

DESY Research Points to Liquid Oxygen in Earth’s Core

Using a special high-pressure chamber, scientists have discovered two new iron oxides in experiments at DESY's X-ray light source PETRA III and other facilities. The discovery points to a huge, hitherto unknown liquid oxygen source in the lower mantle of the Earth. The team, led by Dr. Elena Bykova from...

Japanese Researchers Superconduct Graphene

Scientists in Japan have developed superconductive graphene, according to research published in ACS Nano. Graphene is a single-atomic carbon sheet with a hexagonal honeycomb network. Electrons in graphene take on a special electronic state called the Dirac-cone, where the electrons behave as if they have no mass. This allows the...

NASA Introduces WFIRST, a “Wider Set of Eyes” on the Universe

After years of preparatory studies, NASA is formally starting an astrophysics mission designed to help unlock the secrets of the universe—the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). With a view 100 times bigger than that of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, WFIRST will survey large regions of the sky in near-infrared...

Gravitational Waves Detected 100 Years after Einstein’s Prediction

Scientists have for the first time observed ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves, confirming a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity and opening an unprecedented new window onto the cosmos. The discovery was made possible by the enhanced capabilities of Advanced LIGO, a...

Researchers Designing Safer Cryotherapy Devices

Researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of Texas at Austin are developing a state-of-the-art cryotherapy device, one that can stimulate blood flow to keep tissue healthy and minimize potential side effects, and what are believed to be the first formal protocols for effective and safe...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Two-Phase Flows

Two-phase flows are those flows in which there is a mixture of two physical states (solid, liquid or vapor). In cryogenic applications, such flows are almost always a mixture of a cryogenic liquid along with its corresponding vapor. A mixture of liquid helium and helium vapor would be a typical...

Supercritical Fluids

A supercritical fluid is defined as a substance whose temperature and pressure exceed those of its critical point. Every pure substance has a critical point that is defined in thermodynamic space by a critical temperature and a corresponding critical pressure. For example, the critical point for helium has a critical...

Brayton Cycle

The Brayton cycle is one of the many thermodynamic cycles used to generate cooling at cryogenic temperatures. Strictly speaking, when referring to cooling we should call this the reverse Brayton cycle as the original Brayton cycle describes the process of power generation or propulsion via a gas turbine. In many...

Latest in Cryo Central

Primary Standards

Elie K. Track Hypres, Inc. elie@hypres.com http://www.hypres.com/ Primary standards involve the exact definition and realization of units of measurement for various quantities, time, length, mass, voltage, resistance, current, etc. International agreements based on the latest scientific knowledge define those units, and their realizations vary depending on the unit itself. For...

Shrink Fitting

Robin A. Rhodes Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. rrhodes@nitrofreeze.com Shrink fitting, (or “compression fitting” as it is sometimes called), is a method used to insert a pin or bushing into a housing or other assembly requiring an extremely tight tolerance fit. It can be used as an alternative to...

Telecommunications

From the Winter 2004 issue of Cold Facts magazine The recent M-Calc IV — 4th Industry Assessment workshop discussing military and commercial applications for low-cost cryocoolers, held in November in San Diego, highlighted progress being made in cryogenics as applied in telecommunications. The reliability and long lifetime of projects now...

Wind Tunnels

Dr. Robert Kilgore The development of the cryogenic wind tunnel is one of many significant breakthroughs in both cryogenics and wind-tunnel technology made during the past millennium. Interest in the development of high-speed commercial and military aircraft resulted in a review of problems of flow simulation in transonic wind tunnels...

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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