“Absolute Zero” TV program wins AIP award
Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold, a TV special that ran on PBS in 2007, has won the Science Writing Award from the American Institute of Physics (AIP).
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LHC’s proton collisions point to high number of mesons
A team of researchers from MIT, CERN and the KFKI Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics in Budapest, Hungary has completed work on the first scientific paper analyzing the results of collisions at the LHC.
M&I Materials visited by the Prince of Wales
In early February, M&I Materials was visited by the Prince of Wales at their Manchester UK facility.
TcSUH receives $3.5 million grant
The University of Houston's Texas Center for Superconductivity (TcSUH) has received a $3.5 million grant from the Texas Emerging Technology fund (TETF) to help expand the research capabilities of the center's Applied Research Hub.
Oxford Instruments delivers its 50th Cryofree® dilution refrigerator
Oxford Instruments announced in late January that the company has delivered its 50th Cryofree® dilution refrigerator, which allows for cooling of samples to temperatures below 10mK without the need for liquid helium.
Brookhaven, AES open facility to produce SRF cavities
Brookhaven National Laboratory and Advanced Energy Systems have opened a hi-tech facility at the AES site that will produce superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) cavities for particle accelerators.
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Joule-Thomson Effect
The Joule-Thomson (JT) effect is a thermodynamic process that occurs when a fluid expands from high pressure to low pressure at constant enthalpy (an isenthalpic process). Such a process can be approximated in the real world by expanding a fluid from high pressure to low pressure across a valve. Under...
Current Leads
One of the challenges of using superconducting magnets is the connection of the magnet to a room temperature power supply. This is accomplished via current leads. The trick is that current leads should ideally have a low heat leak, since they connect room temperature to cryogenic temperature, while at the...
Multilayer Insulation
Multilayer insulation (also referred to as superinsulation) is a key component in the reduction of heat leak to cryogenic systems due to thermal radiation. MLI consists of a series of uncooled reflective surfaces placed in the vacuum space between two surfaces, one warmer than the other. Generally speaking, for ideal...
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...
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?