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

Potential of molybdenum disulfide for extreme-temperature electronics

Many industries are calling for electronics that can operate reliably in a harsh environment, including extreme temperatures above 200°C. A team of researchers from the University of California, Riverside and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute discovered that molybdenum disulfide, a semiconductor material, may be a promising candidate to make thin-film transistors for...

Fermilab contributes to SLAC LCLS-II with cutting-edge technology and expertise

In 2015, Fermilab will intensify its contribution to the Linac Coherent Light Source II (LCLS-II), an electron accelerator project at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, in the overlapping areas of superconducting radio-frequency accelerator technology and cryogenics.

Maglev elevators go up, down and sideways

Elevators are about to get a major upgrade: the ability to go sideways, thanks to magnetic levitation technology. German industrial behemoth ThyssenKrupp is promising that two-axis travel ("the holy grail of the elevator industry") will revolutionize intra-building travel, and that they will have it operational in 2016.

Evidence mounts for quantum criticality theory

A new study by a team of physicists adds to the growing body of evidence supporting a theory that strange electronic behaviors, including high temperature superconductivity and heavy fermion physics, arise from quantum fluctuations of strongly correlated electrons. The study describes results from a series of experiments that tested for...

Charge instability detected across all types of copper-based superconductors

A recent study by physicists from the University of British Columbia and the University of Maryland detected for the first time in electron-doped cuprate superconductors evidence of charge ordering, a phenomenon that appears to compete with superconductivity and reduce the temperature at which cuprates demonstrate superconducting properties. The study's findings...

A 50-Year History of the Extended Bonnet Cryogenic Valve

Many cryogenic products have been developed out of necessity over the past 50 years. One such product is the vacuum jacketed extended bonnet cryogenic valve. Currently there are numerous manufacturers in the US and abroad that have utilized design basics developed over 50 years ago. One of the main contributors...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Mixed Refrigerant Cycles

Most cryogenic refrigeration systems, both large scale systems and cryocoolers, use helium as a working fluid. There are a number of advantages to helium, not the least of which is that helium remains a fluid down to the lowest achievable temperatures. In order to freeze helium, pressures of over 20...

Fountain Pumps and He II Phase Separators

Helium II (He II), the second liquid phase of the 4He isotope described in this column in Cold Facts Spring 2010 (http://2csa.us/he2), can be modeled as consisting of two interpenetrating fluids. One, the superfluid component, has zero viscosity and entropy and the other, the normal fluid component, has nonzero viscosity...

Turboexpanders

A vital technology in the refrigerators and liquefiers described in Cold Facts Volume 31 Number 3 is that of turboexpanders. These devices are rotating machines in which the process fluid (e.g., helium) does work against the turboexpander while moving from high pressure to a lower pressure and thus is cooled....

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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