Selecting Getters for Cryogenic Devices .............. 8 Zero Boiloff Tank Experiments aboard ISS ...........

28
Outgassing Loads in Cryogenic Systems ........... 10 NIST Probes Future of Supercomputing ............... 34
IRAS Maximizes Cryogenic Process Efficiency.. 26 Reviving SMES, One Niche at a Time................ 37

MIT Gets Supersolid | 38

Volume 33 Number 3
Join Our Growing Family of CSA Get connected to the cryogenic community
worldwide. Let your voice be heard and
Corporate Sustaining Members your contributions known.

Abbess Instruments and Systems, Inc. Cryogenic Control Systems, Inc. Instant Systems, Inc. Prentex Alloy Fabricators, Inc.

Ability Engineering Technology, Inc. Cryogenic Industries, Inc. International Cryogenics, Inc. Quantum Cryogenics Ltd.

Acme Cryogenics, Inc. Cryogenic Institute of New England ISOFLEX USA Quantum Design, Inc.

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Kadel Engineering Corp.

Air Liquide advanced Technologies Cryoguard Corporation Re-Vac Inc.

American Magnetics, Inc.
Amuneal Manufacturing Corp.
Argonne National Laboratory
Barber-Nichols Inc.
BellowsTech, LLC
Brooks Automation, Inc., Vacuum
Products Division
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Cryomagnetics, Inc. Redstone Aerospace
Kelvin International Corporation
Cryomech, Inc. RegO Products
Kelvin Technology, Inc.
Cryonova, LLC RUAG Space GmbH
KEYCOM Corporation
CryoSRV, LLC Sauer Compressors USA
L-3 Cincinnati Electronics
Cryotherm GmbH & Co. KG Scientific Instruments, Inc.
Lake Shore Cryotronics, Inc.
CryoVac GmbH SGD Inc.
Linde Cryogenics, Division of Linde
CryoWorks, Inc. Engineering North America Inc. Shell-N-Tube Pvt. Ltd.

CAD Cut, Inc. Cryoworld BV

Lydall Performance Materials shirokuma GmbH

CAEN Technologies Demaco Holland BV

Magnatrol
Magnatrol Valve Corporation
atro Inc.
Sierra Lobo, In
nc.

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Company DH Industries BV
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Chart Inc. DH Industries India Pvt. Ltd.

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SPS Cryogenics B V
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Master Bond
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Meyer
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Meye
Eden Cryogenics
Coax Co., Ltd. Sumitomo (SHI) Cryogenics of
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Corporation
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Composite Technology
Molecular
Mo
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cula Sunpower, Inc.
Development, Inc. Industries
Essex Indust
tri
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Cool Pair Plus NA K

Creare LLC
Criotec Impianti srl
Cryo Industries of America
NASA Kennedy Cryogenics
enneddy C ryogeniics SuperPower, Inc.
Facility for Rare Isotope Beams
Michigan State University Test Laboratory
Technifab Products, Inc.
Fermi National Accelerator National Cryogenics Corporation
Laboratory Temati
National High Magnetic Field
Fin Tube Products, Inc. Laboratory Tempshield Cryo-Protection

Cryo Technologies Gardner Cryogenics Nexans Deutschland GmbH Thermal Space

HPD Niowave, Inc. Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator

Cryoco LLC
Facility
High Tech Services Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Cryocomp
TRIUMF
Hypres Inc.
Cryoconnect, Div. of Tekdata Oxford Instruments NanoScience
TS Italia SRL
Interconnections Ltd. Independence Cryogenic
PHPK Technologies
Engineering, LLC Valcor Scientific
Cryofab, Inc.
Precision Measurements and
Indium Corporation Instruments Corp. WEKA AG
Cryogas Tech Sdn. Bhd.
 Inside This Issue

14 19 30 33
FEATURES COLUMNS
8 Selecting Getters for Cryogenic Devices 6 Executive Directors Letter

10 Outgassing Loads in Cryogenic Systems 21 Defining Cryogenics

12 Selecting Getters for Dewars and Pipe Systems 22 Space Cryogenics

34 NIST Probes Future of Supercomputing 25 Cryo-Oops

37 Reviving SMES, One Niche at a Time SPOTLIGHTS

38 New Form of Matter is Supersolid
14 Still Cooling after Years of Uninterrupted Service
40 In Memoriam Edgar A. Edelsack
16 Spotlight on our Lifetime Members

SCW 2017 SPECIAL SECTION 17 Benefits of the Vacuum Jacketed Hose

18 Sauer Is Source for Pressure Compressors

26 IRAS Maximizes Cryogenic Process Efficiency
19 A Silver Snoopy for Valcor Top Dog
28 Zero Boiloff Tank Experiments aboard ISS

30 NASA Continues Manufacturing, Testing Worlds 42 PRODUCT SHOWCASE

Most Powerful Rocket
43 EMPLOYMENT SHOWCASE
33 DARPA and Boeing Board the Phantom Express
44 PEOPLE & COMPANIES

45 CALENDAR

ON OUR COVER DID YOU KNOW?

MIT researchers have created a super-
solid from a Bose-Einstein condensate.
Our cover shows the experiments ultra-
high vacuum chamber. The gold ring is a
vacuum flange that surrounds a viewport
through which the team sent a series of
laser beams. Some of the optic systems,
used to reflect and guide the laser beams,
are also visible. Read more on page 38.
In all instances, CSA CSM indicates a Corporate Sustaining Member of CSA.
CSA will offer four short courses on Sunday, July 9, just
before CEC/ICMC. Registration information and course de-
scriptions are provided at http://2csa.us/shortcourses
Cold Facts Vol. 33 No. 4 publishes on August 25. Submit
your content to editor@cryogenicsociety.org by June 23 to
make sure youre included. The issue will spotlight deflashing,
deburring, grinding and cryogenic treatment equipment, but
we also invite your input on other topics.
You can stay up to date on all CSA news by subscrib-
ing to the CryoChronicle newsletter and CSA Newsflashes at
www.cryogenicsociety.org.

Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3 5 www.cryogenicsociety.org

 From the Executive Director
Cold Facts Magazine
Executive Editor As many a persons body or body parts can be frozen at
LAURIE HUGET
of you know, death, stored in a cryogenic vessel, and later
Editor Ive made it a brought back to life. We do NOT endorse this
BRIAN DUDLEY
goal to fight belief (note: it is a belief, not science) and indeed
Advertising Coordinator the confusion find it untenable.
KIM DURDEN
that exists in
Online Marketing Manager the media and The recently popular business of
JO SNYDER
among the cryotherapy seems to have led you in
Graphic Designer public about cryogenics and cryonics. A the wrong direction and the writer then
ISRAEL REZA
recent episode of NCIS, the popular CBS conflated cryotherapy with cryonics.
CSA Board of Technical Directors police procedural, featured a villain who You certainly made the person freezing
Chairman killed his victims with liquid nitrogen, people seem crazy, but you got things
JOHN WEISEND II interring them alive inside a homemade really mixed up and in doing so you im-
European Spallation Source (ERIC)
46 46-888 31 50 cryonics chamber. During the big reveal, plied that cryogenics is for crazy people.
the NCIS writers conflate cryonics with Believe me, it is not.
President
MELORA LARSON, Jet Propulsion Laboratory cryogenics, using one of the shows trope
818-354-8751
scientific experts to present the latter as Our members are at the very top of
Past President the low temperature preservation of bod- their scientific fields. Our President is at
JAMES FESMIRE, NASA Kennedy
Cryogenics Test Laboratory | 321-867-7557 ies and to cast aspersions of quackery. NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory and
several board members come from very
President-Elect
PETER SHIRRON, NASA Goddard In a letter to NCIS producers, con- reputable companies that manufacture
Space Flight Center | 301-286-7327 densed below, I addressed our concerns, equipment used in both areas that affect
Treasurer explaining the distinction between your everyday life and cutting edge research.
RICH DAUSMAN, Cryomech, Inc. cryogenics and cryonics and discuss- Some of our members build and manage
315-455-2555
ing the serious and respected place that magnets that bend particle beams at places
Secretary low temperature study has in European like the European Organization for Nuclear
JONATHAN DEMKO
LeTourneau University Organization for Nuclear Research the Research, CERN. We have members at na-
scientific and industrial communities: tional laboratories such as Fermilab, Argonne
Executive Director
LAURIE HUGET and Oak Ridge. I could go on. We are serious
Huget Advertising, Inc. | 708-383-6220 x 302
As a long-time NCIS fan, I was scientists and cryogenics is an amazing and
Registered Agent appalled by the errors in Season 14, valuable technology used in service to so
WERNER K. HUGET, Huget Advertising, Inc.
Episode 20. I am Executive Director of many areas of science.
Technical Directors the Cryogenic Society of America, Inc, a
KATHLEEN AMM, GE Global Research
serious scientific group of physicists and PLEASE spread the word that
engineers who work in very low tem- there is a BIG difference between cryon-
PETER BRADLEY, NIST, Boulder peratures. Not a body freezer among us. ics, which is a pseudoscience at best, and
LANCE COOLEY, Fermi National Accelerator cryogenics. Ive enclosed a copy of our
Laboratory Here is what we have to say on magazine, Cold Facts, so you can see
SCOTT COURTS, Lake Shore Cryotronics, Inc. our website about cryonics, which is the just what cryogenics is all about, as well
CORRECT term for freezing persons as some bookmarks that detail the many
EILEEN CUNNINGHAM, Meyer Tool & Mfg.
after they are dead in hopes of bringing really valuable uses for cryogenics in our
TERRY GRIMM, Niowave, Inc. them back to life: Body Freezing is NOT lives here on Earth and in space.
PETER KNUDSEN, MSU/FRIB Cryogenics, its cryonics and cryonics is
NOT the same as Cryogenics. Cryogenics,
CHRIS REY, Energy to Power Solutions (E2P)
which deals with extremely low temperatures,
MARK ZAGAROLA, Creare LLC
has no connection with cryonics, the belief that

Cold Facts (ISSN 1085-5262) is published six times per year by the
Cryogenic Society of America, Inc.
Contents 2017 Cryogenic Society of America, Inc.
Editorial Board
Randall Barron, Glen McIntosh, McIntosh Cryogenics
Although CSA makes reasonable efforts to keep the ret. Louisiana Tech University John Pfotenhauer, University of
information contained in this magazine accurate, the
information is not guaranteed and no responsibility is
Jack Bonn, VJ Systems, LLC Wisconsin-Madison
assumed for errors or omissions. CSA does not warrant Robert Fagaly, Leidos Ray Radebaugh, ret. NIST Boulder
the accuracy, completeness, timeliness or merchantabil- Brian Hands, ret. Oxford University Ralph Scurlock, Kryos Associates,
ity or fitness for a particular purpose of the information
contained herein, nor does CSA in any way endorse the Peter Kittel, ret. NASA Ames ret. University of Southampton
individuals and companies described in the magazine or Peter Mason, ret. Jet Propulsion Lab Nils Tellier, EPSIM Corporation
the products and services they may provide.

Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3 6 www.cryogenicsociety.org

Selecting Getters for Cryogenic Devices
by Gabriele Calderoni, SAES Getters S.p.A, gabriele_maria_calderoni@saes-group.com
Maintaining vacuum at lower than 10-3
mbar is essential for ensuring the high ther-
mal insulating characteristics of everything
from small-scale dewars to bulk transporta-
tion tanks and pipes. But vacuum level dete-
riorates with time, mainly as a consequence
of outgassingthe release of gases from the
materials of the vacuum jackets.
For cryogenic devices, hydrogen out-
gassing is often the main issue, not only be-
cause all metals release hydrogen but also
because hydrogen cannot be condensed on
the cold wall of the system.
To preserve vacuum level, engineers
commonly use two types of getter materials
in evacuated jackets. Hydrogen getters work
by converting hydrogen to water, vapor that
is then removed by cryocondensation on the
cold wall of the system or by a suitable dryer.
Palladium Oxide (PdO), Silver Exchanged
Zeolites and SAES Getters LOTHAR belong
to this category. Non-Evaporative Getter
(NEG) alloysthe second conventional get-
terare able to sorb not only hydrogen, but
also other reactive gases like carbon oxides,
water, oxygen and nitrogen.
Regardless of the getter considered,
pumping is always based on chemical re-
actions that are faster at high temperature.
For this reason, engineers should install
getters on the warm wall (ambient tem-
perature) of the device.
Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3
1,0E+03
Sorpon Speed [cc/s.g]
1,0E+02
1,0E+01
Curve representing the typical H2 sorption performances of the LOTHAR. Image: SAES Getters
Besides hydrogen, engineers should
pay attention to the contribution of water
vapor, coming mainly from glass fiber foils
as part of the MLI. Water condenses on cold
surfaces when the tank is filled with liquid
gas. A dryer is recommended to prevent the
growth of the partial pressure of H2O when
the tank is empty.
Getter Selection
One of the first points to evaluate
when selecting a getter is baking, a heat-
ing process that removes vapor absorbed
by vacuum chamber walls. Water can rap-
idly saturate NEGs at room temperature,
8 www.cryogenicsociety.org
p_H2 = 1.3E-3 mbar
T = 25C
1,0E+02 1,0E+03 1,0E+04
Sorbed Quanty [cc.mbar/g]
so engineers should only employ such
getters in systems where an effective bak-
ing process has massively reduced the
amount of water. In contrast, hydrogen
getters are more tolerant to the presence
of water, and can also be employed in
devices that are not baked or which were
submitted to a mild baking during the
manufacturing process.
Another aspect to consider is the pos-
sibility of activating the getter at high tem-
perature. NEG alloys and Silver Exchanged
Zeolites should be activated at high tem-
perature to start sorbing hydrogen, while
PdO and SAES Lothar do not need thermal
activation.

Finally, service with liquid oxygen

poses specific safety issues, with constraints
on the materials suitable for this applica-
tion. SAES Lothar has passed the impact
test per NASA STD 6001, Test 13, Part A in
this regard.

In terms of sorption characteristics of

the getter, two figures of merit are typi-
cally considered. Sorption capacity (C) is
the maximum amount of gas that the getter
can capture during its service life, usually
expressed as mbar.liter/gram of getter. And
sorption speed (S) is the volume of gas re-
moved by the getter in the unit time, usually
expressed as liter/s.gram of getter. Example of a diagram to evaluate the kind of dimensioning on the basis of the C/S characteristics of the
getter and the working pressure of the device. The diagram is constructed for an expected lifetime of 10
years, and assumes that the sorption speed and the rate of release of gas do not change with time. For
Throughput (T) is a quantity strictly
cryogenic devices, dimensioning for capacity is commonly adopted. Image: SAES Getters
connected to the sorption speed. It repre-
sents the quantity of gas removed in the
unit time and is the product of the sorption
speed and the pressure (T = S x p).

Among the different getter solutions,

PdO has the largest sorption capacity for hy-
drogen, but it also has the highest price due to
its strong link to the cost of palladium.

Getter Dimensioning
Evaluating the quantity of getter re-
quired for a particular application is an
important step in determining the most
appropriate getter system. Engineers Characteristics of the main getter solutions for cryogenic applications Image: SAES Getters
can follow two different approaches
when dimensioning a getter, either di-
mensioning for the sorption speed or for
the capacity.

Dimensioning for sorption speed is

commonly adopted when challenging ul-
timate pressures are required or when the
pumping speed of the getter is low.

Once an engineer determines the rate of
release for gases from different sources (Q),
the minimum speed required to maintain the
pressure (p) is simply expressed as S = Q / p.
On the other hand, if the ultimate pres-
sure required is not especially difficult,
dimensioning for capacity is the most ap-
propriate option, provided that the get-
ter sorption speed is sufficient. Engineers
Characteristics of the main dryers for cryogenic applications Image: SAES Getters
also adopt capacity dimensioning when Dimensioning for capacity is usually
the sorption speed does not depend on the the recommended approach for cryogenic
quantity of getter, but rather is limited by devices: the pressure in the annulus of a
geometric factors and conductance. When cryogenic device is in the 10-3 to 10-4 mbar
dimensioning for capacity, the minimum range, the outgassing rate is slow because
capacity required corresponds to the gas of the low service temperature and the con-
load accumulated in the vacuum jacket dur- ductance of MLI is a limitation to the effec-
ing the entire life of the device. tive pumping speed of the getter.

Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3 9 www.cryogenicsociety.org

Outgassing Loads in Cryogenic Systems
By Jeff Phillip, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, jeffphillipnmt@gmail.com; and Richard Kullberg,Vacuum Energy Inc.,
rckullberg@vacuumenergyinc.com

Understanding the fundamentals of

mass flows within a vacuum space is criti-
cal for the manufacture of cryogenic vessels
that meet design goals and desired life. It
is critical, for example, that engineers un-
derstand how much water vapor, hydro-
gen and other gases will be outgassed into
vacuum insulation over time. Determining
which gases are present and estimating the
total amount of outgas over the system's
lifetime allows engineers to effectively use
getters and desiccants to remove them from
the system.

The primary gases of concern are

water vapor and hydrogen. The outgas-
sing mechanisms differ between these
gases. Water vapor and similar gases
like CO or N2 outgas from the surface of
materials, while hydrogen diffuses from
the bulk of metals. These differing mecha-
nisms impact the outgassing rate and are
reflected in the time factor in the outgas-
sing equation used to estimate outgassing
loads:

Where:
q = outgassing rate
q0 = the initial outgassing rate
t = the time period
v = the species dependent time factor

Engineers can determine initial out-

gassing rates (q0) through actual measure-
ment or by a literature search. Please note
that outgassing rates are very process and
material dependent. Vacuum Energy has
an exhaustive library on outgassing and is
happy to assist any practitioner to deter-
mine applicable outgassing rates for specific
applications.
The quantity of gas released can be ob-
tained by integrating the equation over the
desired time period (t). Following are inte-
grations for both hydrogen (0.5) and other
gases (1.0):

Researchers normally estimate the time For hydrogen where v=0.5:

factor (v) as equivalent to 1 for gases such
as carbon monoxide or nitrogendesorbed
from the surface of a materialand 0.5 for
gases such as hydrogen that are desorbed
by diffusion from the bulk of a material.

Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3 10 www.cryogenicsociety.org

 CSA Thanks Our 2017
For water vapor and other gases where Space Cryogenics Workshop Sponsors
v=1:

Cryoco LLC Lake Shore Cryotronics, Inc.

The curves on page 10 illustrate the

impact of the gas specific time dependency
on the total gas load to be gettered from a
cryogenic system.

As can be seen in these plots, under-

standing the type of gas and its time de-
pendency is important when estimating the
total mass of gas outgassed over the service
life of the system. While it is tempting to
assume that outgassing is linear over time,
such an approach will lead to uneconomi-
cal estimates of the amount of desiccant or
getter required, while masking the small
costs to extend the service life of a system
by significant amounts.

Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3 11 www.cryogenicsociety.org

Selecting Getters for Dewars and Pipe Systems
by Phil Redenbarger, Technifab Products, Inc., predenbarger@technifab.com
Vacuum insulated vessels require get-
ters to collect gases that appear after the
vacuum pumping process is terminated.
Without getters, such gases often cause the
vacuum space pressure to rise and can ulti-
mately destroy the vacuum.
Getter selection for use in industrial
vacuum applications varies among practi-
tioners, but is generally tied in to the over-
all procedure for an organizations vacuum
evacuation process. Engineers should se-
lect the type and quantity of getter based
upon the materials used in creating the
structure to be evacuated, the size of the
structures surface area exposed to vacuum,
the vacuum pressure to be achieved, life
expectancy of the vacuum and economic
considerations for the product.
Given a typical stainless steel system
with aluminum foil MLI and a humid envi-
ronment, an engineer might choose a getter
cocktail. Stainless steel harbors a great deal
of hydrogen and will also absorb water due
to humidity. A zeolite sized to absorb hy-
drogen will work for long periods without
becoming saturated with other elements,
and at the same time charcoal could be used
to absorb large quantities of water.
Internal vacuum chamber surface area,
and not vacuum space volume, is the key to
determining the amount of getter required.
Corrugated stainless steel hose, for example,
has far more surface area than an equivalent
length of straight pipe. Placing the getters
so that they operate in a low temperature
environment makes them far more effective.
So attaching the getter, whether zeolite or
charcoal, to the coldest surface inside the
vessel works to the getters advantage.
Heating time and pumping time deter-
mine the amount of material that remains
after pumping that will desorboutgasand
need to be collected by the getter. Water is the
number one material. During pumpdown,
gases within the chamber begin as mostly
oxygen and nitrogen because these are the
dominant atmospheric gases. Water vapor
Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3
is present in an amount dependent upon the
environments humidity at the time the ves-
sel was under construction. This is simply be-
cause there is more water available from the
environment than any other vapor.
The common factors in all types of
water sorbtion are the constant motion of
water vapor molecules and the subsequent
contact with vessel surfaces. The amount of
sorbtion is thus directionally proportional
to the number of impacts of water molecules
onto a surface per unit time. As the water
molecules are sorbed, others immediately
replace them in the air. These molecules are
then sorbed and immediately replaced, a
process that continues as long as surfaces
are exposed to the air. Engineers can re-
duce the number of impacts by using less
humid air or limiting exposure time [1]. The
moral to this story is this: Dont leave open
vacuum vessels lying around waiting for
vacuum pumping and be sure to keep the
environment as clean and dry as possible!
Residual hydrogen is the biggest prob-
lem inside a vacuum chamber because of its
high thermal conductivity and its resistance
to condensation on cold surfaces. Stainless
steel can trap large quantities of hydrogen in
its pores during smelting and release it dur-
ing pumpdown by diffusion [2]. Water in
the vacuum space interacts with multilayer
insulation when the MLI utilizes aluminum
foil. The interaction increases the emissiv-
ity of the aluminum and releases hydrogen.
Thats why water in the annular space is a
really bad thing. It can increase the amount
of hydrogen present, thus increasing in-
terstitial space conduction, and it will also
decrease resistance to radiant heat transfer.
What are the Getter Choices?
The term getter typically refers to
chemical getters and the term molecu-
lar sieve to zeolites and sometimes acti-
vated charcoal. Charcoal is inexpensive,
regenerates at relatively low tempera-
ture and is a good all-purpose getter.
Zeolite molecular sieves are a complex
12
of elements that began being produced in
the early 1950s [3]. The cells of these mo-
lecular sieves link together to form a crystal
that contains a network of cavities formed
by the cell walls. Each of the different types
of molecular sieves has pores that are pre-
cisely the same size depending upon the
type of sieve. Fluid molecules larger than
the pores cannot enter. Fluids (such as
water, hydrogen, helium, oxygen, carbon
dioxide, etc.) that can enter the pore are
absorbed and held by van der Walls forces
within the sieve until thermally liberated.
Molecular sieves are available in five grades:
3A (3 angstrom = .3 nanometer) is
potassium zeolite. 3A will absorb mol-
ecules with an effective diameter less than
3 angstroms including water, helium and
hydrogen. There is almost no adsorption of
carbon dioxide, acetylene or oxygen.
4A is sodium zeolite. 4A will absorb all of
the above and other fluids with critical mol-
ecule diameters smaller than 4 angstroms.
It will absorb about 20 percent of water by
weight. It will also absorb acetylene, carbon
dioxide, oxygen, carbon disulfide, hydrogen
sulfide, methane and methanol. It will not in-
teract with oxygen (Its a rock.) making it safe
for LOX containers. Sodium zeolite is gener-
ally the default workhorse of the zeolites for
use in vacuum systems.
5A is calcium zeolite. 5A will absorb
all molecules of 3A and 4A grades plus eth-
ylene, propylene, hydrocarbons, alcohols,
amines and halides.
The fourth grade, 13X, has a pore size
of 10 angstroms (not intuitive). It will ab-
sorb all of the above plus branch-chained
hydrocarbons and saturated hydrocarbons.
Silver zeolite, the fifth grade, is the only
one with two distinct pore sizes: 7.4 and
2.2 angstroms. It will therefore absorb light
gases such as hydrogen and helium as well
as water. The silver zeolite 2.2A pores are so
small that only very light gases like hydrogen
www.cryogenicsociety.org
and helium are captured. Larger molecules
are not captured by these pores, thus leaving
the molecular sieve free to capture a great deal
of hydrogen and light gases and not become
saturated with other molecules such as water.
It can continue to capture hydrogen over the
extended life of the vacuum. Like all molecu-
lar sieves, the zeolites work best at low tem-
peratures. Silver zeolite is safe for use when
collecting hydrogen. In testing done on
silver zeolite during a vacuum break, igni-
tion did not occur. The silver zeolite pumps
hydrogen until its capacity is reached and
then becomes passive [4].
Charcoal is technically not a molecular
sieve since it has pores of various sizes. Some
molecular sieves have a greater affinity for
water than others. All naturally occurring
zeolites are hydrophilic and thus, with the
right pore size, have a great affinity to absorb
advantage over zeolite molecular sieves.
Zeolite molecular sieves must be heated to
about 570F for reactivation and do not totally
regenerate [8]. The moderate low tempera-
ture regeneration allows the charcoal to be
renewed just prior to insertion into a vacuum
insulated vessel by using conventional heat-
ing equipment. A relatively small amount
of charcoal can collect a large volume of all
molecules of vapor.
Broad benchmark studies for different
cryosorbtion materials show that activated
charcoals have optimum characteristics for
pumping, particularly coconut shell based
materials [9]. It must be noted here that char-
coal is not a good getter choice for pipe and
dewar systems that transfer or hold oxygen,
since charcoal is a source for combustion in
an oxygen enriched environment.
break conditions [11]. Chemical getters also
require high temperature activation to ini-
tiate the gettering process, cannot collect
inert gases, and some units, when installed,
may even require special shipping permits.
Another downside is that o-ring seal perme-
ation can destroy the getter over time. Using
metal gaskets is thus often a requirement for
non-evaporative chemical getters, such as
those made with zirconium [12].
References:
[1] Phil Danielson, How to Use Getters and Getter
Pumps, in R&D magazine, February 2001.
[2] Thomas Flynn, Cryogenic Engineering, CRC Press, 1997,
pp. 375-376.
[3] Santi Kulprathipanja, ed., Zeolites in Industrial Separation
and Catalysis, Wiley, 2010.
[4] Glen McIntosh, Comparison of Silver Zeolite and
Palladium Oxide as a Hydrogen Getter, McIntosh
Cryogenics LLC, 2015.

water. Charcoal is not fully hydrophilic, so it
retains an affinity for both water and other
substances [5].
It is important to understand that all mo-
lecular sieve and activated charcoal perfor-
mance is temperature sensitive. Results from
a study testing the adsorption of CO2 by zeo-
[5] Clean Air Technology Center, Choosing an Adsorbtion
System for VOC: Carbon, Zeolite, or Polymers? US EPA
Technical Bulletin, 1999.
[6] Ibid.

Activated charcoal is an excellent water
getter because it is inexpensive and effective. It
acts as a general purpose getter by adsorbing
water and many other gases. Unlike zeolites
that have uniform pore size, activated charcoal
has external pores leading to smaller internal
pores that lead to even smaller pores inside the
charcoal mass [6]. A good way to visualize the
water- holding capability of coconut shell acti-
vated charcoal is to consider that one could add
44 gallons of water to a 55-gallon drum of dry
charcoal before it would overflow [7].
lites and activated charcoal vs. temperature
showed that molecular sieve and charcoal be-
come more adsorbent at colder temperatures
[10]. Of course, as would be expected, the
higher the pressure of the gas to be adsorbed,
the greater the adsorption rate.
Chemical getters are also an option. They
permanently remove gas from the vacuum
space with a chemical reaction that forms a
solid compound. Engineers should use them
with great care, however, as they can cause
ignition and fire if not properly controlled.
[7] Cached version of FAQ from www.calgoncarbon.com,
archived on www.superiorwatersofteners.com/down-
load/faqs.html
[8] C. Day, Basics and Applications of Cryopumps.
Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Institute of Technical
Physics.
[9] Ibid.
[10] L. Hauchhum and P. Mahanta, Carbon dioxide
adsorption on Zeolites and activated carbon by pressure
swing adsorption in a fixed bed, in International Journal
of Energy and Environmental Engineering, 2014.
[11] Glen McIntosh, Comparison of Silver Zeolite and
Palladium Oxide as a Hydrogen Getter, McIntosh
Cryogenics LLC, 2015.

Charcoal requires temperatures of Hydrogen ignition is known to occur in pal- [12] Phil Danielson, How to Use Getters and Getter
260F to achieve complete regeneration, an ladium oxide, for example, under vacuum Pumps, in R&D magazine, February 2001.

2017 Space Cryogenics Short Courses

Workshop at CEC/ICMC 2017
Design of Optimal Helium Cryogenic Safety (Half-Day)
Its not too late. Refrigeration and Liquefaction
Systems (Full-Day)
T. Peterson, J. Jurns and J. G.
Weisend II
V. Ganni and P. Knudsen
REGISTER NOW! Thermal Properties: Changes in
the Cryogenic Region (Half-Day)
Full-Day Course $430/$215
student
1 Half-Day Course $255/$130
Workshop Dates J. Pfotenhauer and F. Miller student
Cryocoolers (Half-Day) 2 Half-Day Courses $445/$230
Wednesday, July 5 Friday, July 7, 2017
P. Spoor student
www.spacecryogenicsworkshop.org Sunday, July 9, 2017 Monona Terrace, Madison, Wisconsin
Register at http://2csa.us/sc17

Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3 13 www.cryogenicsociety.org

 SPOTLIGHT ON A CORPORATE SUSTAINING MEMBER (CSA CSM)
Still Cooling after Years of Uninterrupted Service
Fifteen years is a long time for any
high-tech cryogenic device to continue
working, but that is just what an M77
cryocooler aboard NASAs RHESSI sat-
ellite has accomplished. Designed by
Sunpower, Inc., the units piston has cy-
cled over 26 billion times over this period.
And, as periodic oil changes cant happen
in space, the M77 has done so without oil
to provide lubrication between the piston
and piston wall. Instead, it relies on gas
bearings to provide a thin protective layer
of gas to prevent collisions.
The M77 is a single stage, integral
Stirling cycle cooler designed to provide up
to 4W of cooling at 77 K with an input of
100W. NASA tested the unit under vacuum
for more than 10,000 hours at Goddard
Space Flight Center before the mission
and even noted in mission documents that
Sunpower had engineered the cooler for a
lifetime greater than 50,000 hours (around
Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3
Sunpowers M77 cryocooler detailed in NASA
documents. Image: NASA
six years). Nevertheless, the space agency
planned for only a two-year mission.
Sunpower is proud to have contrib-
uted towards the RHESSI project and the
significant science that has been gener-
ated with this instrument, says Jimmy
Wade, business development manager at
Sunpower. The fact that this cryocooler
lasted over 15 years is a testament to our
14
technology and the manufacturing pro-
cesses used for our cryocoolers.
The satellites detectors, which allow
researchers to collect and analyze valuable
scientific data, have also aged well. Four of
the nine still have a low energy threshold f ~3
keV and an X-ray spectral resolution of ~1.5
keV FWHM. In February of last year, NASA
ran the satellite through an annealing process,
the fifth of its lifetime, to remove accumulated
radiation. The system returned to anticipated
operational parameters.
Today, the M77 continues to provide cool-
ing power to the satellites detectors, albeit in a
diminished capacity. Its cold plate has slowly
increased in overall temperature, moving from
77 K to around 140 K. To counter the increase in
temperature and subsequently extend the over-
all life of the satellite, NASA operates only three
of the nine RHESSI detectors at any one time.
www.sunpowerinc.com/cryocoolers
www.cryogenicsociety.org
 Spotlight on our Lifetime Members
Recently we reviewed the list of our Lifetime Members and were delighted to learn that the list has become quite substantial... and
international! Here they are, in alphabetical order. We thank you and we celebrate you:

Bernd Ahne, HiFi-Tuning, Germany
Dr. Kathleen Amm, GE Global Research, US
Motokazu Arakawa, Japan
Dr. Alexander Bakharev, US
Dr. Upendra Behera, Indian Institute of
Science, India
Huat Chan, Cryogas Tech, Malaysia
Dr. Luisa Chiesa, Tufts University, US
Professor Wei Dai, Technical Institute of
Physics & Chemistry, China
Professor Haizheng Dang, Shanghai
Institute of Technical Physics, China
Professor Paul Dolan, Northeastern Illinois
University, US
Edwin Dreier, retired from University of
WisconsinMadison, US
Dr. Robert Duckworth, Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, US
Dr. Jeffrey Feller, NASA Ames Research
Center, US
Dr. Willy Gully, Ball Aerospace Systems,
US
Dr. Jason Hartwig, NASA Glenn Research
Center, US
Dr. William Hassenzahl, AEA, US
Wesley Johnson, NASA Glenn Research
Center, US
Joshua Kaluznuy, Fermi National
Accelerator Laboratory, US
Keun Tae Lee, LS Cable, Ltd., Korea
James Maguire, American Superconductor
Corporation, US
Dr. Archer Mitchell, NGE Systems, US
Dr. John Pfotenhauer, University of
WisconsinMadison, US
Melina Pillar, Raytheon, US
Dr. Andrea Raccanelli, Germany
Dr. Ray Radebaugh, retired, National
Institute of Science & Technology, Boulder
CO, US
Dr. Christopher M. Rey, Energy to Power
Solutions (E2P), US
Louis Salerno, retired NASA Ames
Research Center, US
Andrew Schnell, NASA Marshall Space
Flight Center, US
Dr. Ralph G. Scurlock, Kryos Association,
UK
Johannes Stipsitz, RUAG Space GmbH,
Austria
Dr. Nils Tellier, NTCI, a Division of
EPSIM Corporation, US
Santiago Trevino, Ametek, US
Thomas Wu, University of Central
Florida, US

Interested in joining these Lifetime Members? Cost is $600 in the US and $750 for those outside the US. Join
online or use the coupon in the back of this issue of Cold Facts.

Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3 16 www.cryogenicsociety.org

 SPOTLIGHT ON A CORPORATE SUSTAINING MEMBER (CSA CSM)

Benefits of the Vacuum

Jacketed Hose
Ratermann Manufacturings vacuum jacketed hoses provide
many benefits. Engineers often use vacuum insulated linesor
vacuum jacketed hosesto ensure that cryogenic gases remain in a
cryogenic state during transfer. This is particularly important in sys-
tems where a change in temperatures would threaten the process or
one where one hundred percent cryogen is required. Other benefits
include increased productivity, reduction of cryogenic consumption
and safety improvements.

Productivity
Hoses improve equipment efficiency by providing higher qual-
ity liquid with lower gas content at the point of use. Higher quality
liquid is especially important for supplying and transferring cryo-
gens for the pharmaceutical and medical industries. In cryotherapy
applications, for example, several steps require a stop and start of
liquid nitrogen transfer that often results in cryogen loss.

Productivity can also be increased through hose choice.

Ratermann produces vacuum jacketed hoses with a rapid cooldown.
It enables the user to produce a steadier flow of cryogenic gases that
results in an efficient transfer process, increases cryogen transfer ef-
ficiency and expedites delivery to the point-of-use. With rapid hose
cooldown, cryogen losses otherwise incurred from repeated stopping
and starting are minimized.

Consumption
Vacuum jacketed hoses reduce cryogenic consumption by
keeping cold from leaking into the cryogenic material during the
transfer process. And hoses maintain thermal efficiency by reduc-
ing the loss of liquid nitrogen and other cryogenic liquids during
use. Many utilize super-insulation and a high static vacuum bar-
rier to minimize heat and the product leaking into the atmosphere.
The less that is used during this process, the more that is saved.

Safety
Vacuum jacketed hoses are designed with an exterior layer of
protection that non-vacuum jacketed hoses do not have. By using
vacuum jacketed hoses, the user is assured that the environment is
safe for the cryogenic transfer to take place.

Non-vacuum jacketed hoses can become cold to the touch, some-

times to the point that they pose a safety threat to the user if proper
personal protective equipment is not utilized. The exterior of vacuum
jacketed hoses are safe to touch throughout the transfer process even
when liquid helium is in use.

Ice and water often form on non-vacuum jacketed hoses due to

the temperature of the cryogenic fluid, often causing a safety issue.
This buildup is not a concern with vacuum jacketed hoses, as the
insulation of the vacuum barrier prevents ice and water from forming
on the exterior of the hose. www.rmiorder.com

Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3 17 www.cryogenicsociety.org

 SPOTLIGHT ON A NEW CORPORATE SUSTAINING MEMBER (CSA CSM)
Sauer Is Source for Pressure Compressors
Sauer Compressors USA focuses on the
development, production and sale of me-
dium- and high-pressure compressors for
applications in the naval, shipping, offshore
and industrial sectors. It offers customized so-
lutions for individual customers, OEMs and
other companies.
Sauer is headquartered in Stevensville
MD, and maintains a global network of agents
and representatives. Its worldwide reach has
helped it obtain an 80 percent market share in
naval applications and a 30 percent share in
commercial shipbuilding applications. In the
US, it is the primary supplier of gas compres-
sors to the US Navy and Coast Guard.
In 2016, Sauer enhanced its product range
with the acquisition of HAUG Kompressoren
AG, a Swiss company with an extensive port-
folio of oil-free and gas-tight piston compres-
sors. The move, according to Sauer, opened
up a variety of new markets and applications,
Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3
A compressor system featuring a HAUG.Sirius
compressor. Image: SAUER Compressors USA
including compression of special gases, oxy-
gen and SF6 gas, and recompression of refrig-
erants such as C3F8, R10 or ammonia.
By combining our expertise in compres-
sor technology, both companies are benefiting
from an enhanced range and a new presence
in the market, said Harald Schulz, Sauers
CEO, at the time of the acquisition. Our com-
plete range and combined service know-how
18
enables us to be even more responsive to in-
dividual customer requirements.
Sauer also has solutions for compressed
natural gas (CNG). In the US, the company
says, there is an ongoing movement to pro-
mote the move to natural gas as an alternative
to petroleum fuels in the transportation mar-
ket, and so Sauer has targeted the market with
strategic partnerships and compete turnkey
packages. There are currently some 112,000
natural gas vehicles on the road in the US, and
more than 1,100 CNG stations in operation.
Many of the stations use Sauers Hurricane
series of high-pressure compressors, produced
in Maryland and then shipped to partners for
installation. Our CNG packages are designed
to allow for a true plug-and-play installation
out in the field, the company says, and techni-
cians are available around the clock to provide
onsite start-up and maintenance assistance.
www.sauerusa.com.
www.cryogenicsociety.org
 SPOTLIGHT ON A CORPORATE SUSTAINING MEMBER (CSA CSM)
A Silver Snoopy for Valcor Top Dog
In a March ceremony, NASA presented
Valcors Yuri Gerasimov with its Silver
Snoopy, an award given to candidates who
have significantly contributed to the human
space flight program. Less than one per-
cent of the aerospace program workforce
receives the Silver Snoopy annually, mak-
ing the award a special honor. Gerasimov
played a key role in developing the oxygen
tank pressurization assembly, a main pro-
pulsion system component within the core
state oxygen pressurization system.
We are proud and honored to be a
supplier to Boeing and a member of the
Space Launch System (SLS) Team, says
Tom Iervolino, VP of business develop-
ment and corporate strategies at Valcor.
As a company, we are inspired every day
by the importance of the mission and also
the work performed by talented scientists
and engineers making this happen. Yuri
Gerasimov is one of those inspirational
Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3
engineers. From his early days
as a design engineer, it was
clear that Yuri would be turn-
ing out some incredible valve
designs. Two decades later,
as Chief Engineer for Valcors
Aerospace Engineering
Product Group, he and his
team are still turning out
some very cool designs; most
recently for the SLS Program.
The Silver Snoopy
award is a sterling sil-
ver lapel pin designed by Yuri Gerasimov and his wife Nina, along with NASA Astronaut
Peanuts cartoonist Charles Colonel Douglas Wheelock . Image: Valcor
Schulz. Each Snoopy pin flew on a H. Wheelock presented the award to
Space Shuttle mission. The one given Gerasimov, along with a certificate of
to Gerasimov was aboard Expedition appreciation and commendation letter.
25, a mission to the International The retired Colonel logged more than 178
Space Station on October 27, 2010. days in space, including those spent on
Expedition 25. www.valcor.com/scien-
NASA Astronaut Colonel Douglas tific-and-industrial
19 www.cryogenicsociety.org
 Defining Cryogenics
by Dr. John Weisend II, European Spallation Source ERIC, CSA chairman, john.weisend@esss.se
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
A
significant commercial application
of cryogenics is the liquefaction,
transport and storage of natural gas.
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is generally 95
percent methane with a few percent ethane
and much lower concentrations of propane
and butane. LNG liquefies at 111.6 K.
Unlike many applications of cryogenics,
the motivation for using LNG is not the provi-
sion of lower temperatures but rather the very
large volume reduction (greater than a factor
of 600) between natural gas at atmospheric
pressure and temperature and LNG.
Volume reduction allows for efficient
transport of large amounts of natural gas.
The natural gas industry typically uses LNG
for sea transport, with regular shipments
occurring between producing countries and
consuming countries, for example between
the Middle East and Japan or between
North Africa and Europe.
Once the LNG arrives at a consuming
country it is typically converted to high pres-
sure 300 K gas and distributed via pipeline. In
some cases, further shipment within the con-
suming country is also carried out via LNG.
Given the amounts of LNG shipped regularly,
this is a major industry with a very large com-
mercial value.
Due to its lower emissions upon com-
bustion, both municipalities and corporate
groups are increasingly using natural gas
as a fuel for buses and other fleet vehicles.
Generally, this is accomplished with room
temperature compressed natural gas (CNG)
but there are uses of LNG as a fuel in maritime
ferries. Figure 1 shows an example of such a
system, recently installed in a Polish ferry.
LNG provides a rich field for cryogenic
engineering. Given the amount of LNG trans-
ported, optimization of liquefaction plants is
an ongoing effort, frequently using mixed
gas refrigeration (Cold Facts Vol 32 No 1).
Conversion of LNG back to 300 K gas is often
Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3
Figure 1: Schematic of an LNG fuel system for a maritime ferry. Image: M. Chorowski et al., LNG systems for
natural gas propelled ships, in IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering Volume 101,
Advances in Cryogenic Engineering, 2015. http://2csa.us/creativecommons
carried out by heat exchange with ambient air
or sea water, but work has been carried out to
use the cold LNG to assist in air separation
(Cold Facts Vol 31 No 2), production of dry
ice and freezing of food, thus improving the
overall efficiency of the LNG industry.
The design of safe and efficient stor-
age tanks for LNG is another important
topic of research and development. Most
LNG tanks are not vacuum insulated due
to the high temperatures involved and the
generally large size of such tanks. Tanks for
ferries and other vehicles provide an excep-
tion, however, and are sometimes vacuum
insulated. Engineers typically insulate large
LNG tanks with foam, perlite or other ma-
terials. Significant work has been done over
the years to ensure safety in LNG systems.
In addition to the obvious flammability
hazard, LNG as a multicomponent fluid is
susceptible to stratification and rollover in
storage tanks. Much work has been done to
eliminate or mitigate these risks.
Examples of optimizing the liquefac-
tion of natural gas are given in H.-M. Chang,
A Thermodynamic Review of Cryogenic
Refrigeration Cycles for Liquefaction of
Natural Gas, in Cryogenics 72, 2015; and
H.-M. Chang et al., Combined Brayton-JT
21
Cycles with Pure Refrigerants for Natural
Gas Liquefaction, in AIP Conference
Proceedings 1474, Advances in Cryogenic
Engineering: Transactions of the Cryogenic
Engineering Conference-CEC, Volume
57B, ed. J.G. Weisend II et al., 2012. Using
LNG for cooling as part of an air separa-
tion process is given in Zheng Jieyu et al.,
Simulation of a Novel Single-column
Cryogenic Air Separation Process Using
LNG Cold Energy, in Physics Procedia 67,
ed. H.J.M. ter Brake et al., 2015.
Some safety topics in LNG are covered in
J.Q. Shi et al., Numerical modeling and flow
visualization of mixing of stratified layers and
rollover in LNG, in Cryogenics 33, 1993; and
N.J. Fulford and M.D. Slatter, Developments
in the safe design of LNG tanks, in
Cryogenics 28, 1988. An example of continu-
ing fundamental studies of LNG is given in
D. Chen and Y. Shi, Two-phase heat transfer
and pressure drop of LNG during saturated
flow boiling in a horizontal tube, Cryogenics
58, 2013. The use of LNG as fuel in a ferry
is described in M. Chorowski et al., LNG
systems for natural gas propelled ships, in
IOP Conference Series: Materials Science
and Engineering Volume 101, Advances in
Cryogenic Engineering: Proceedings of the
Cryogenic Engineering Conference, 2015.
www.cryogenicsociety.org
 Space Cryogenics
by Dr. Peter Shirron, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, peter.shirron@nasa.gov

NASAs Decadal Surveys

T
he process whereby NASA selects its
large flagship missions, despite pos-
sible rumors to the contrary, is far from
a series of backroom negotiations. It begins
long before any science, mission or instrument
is selected, and encourages involvement from as
wide a range of scientists, engineers and tech-
nology developers as possible. Understanding
the timing and flow of the process allows those
communities to be involved and shape the out-
comes, and it gives insight into the prospects for
space cryogenics and what technologies will be
needed in the future.

All flagship mission concepts begin with

fundamental science questions at their core. The
steady progress being made in the astronomy
and astrophysics communities, for example, is
not only rapidly improving our understand-
ing of the universe but also rapidly raising new
questions: How did the universe begin? What
is the nature of the dark matter and the dark
energy that pervade the universe? How did the
first stars and galaxies form? Researchers infer
the existence of stellar mass black holes in our
galaxy and supermassive ones in the nuclei of
galaxies. How did they form? Can we find evi-
dence of life beyond Earth, and if so, what is its
nature and distribution?
The National Research Council (NRC)
posed these questions in Astronomy and
Astrophysics in the New Millennium, a report
it issued in support of the 2000 Decadal Survey
(more on this in a minute). To begin to answer
them, observations across a wide range of ener-
gies are needed, with cryogenics being a critical
player in mission and instrument designs in
the case of X-ray, infrared and sub-millimeter
wavelengths.
Initially, science and mission concepts
come together in an organic process, as a small
team builds a constituency and momentum,
usually informally, but almost always depen-
dent on whether other opportunities (i.e. mis-
sions) gain traction (i.e. are funded) or not. The
process in time becomes more scripted, begin-
ning with the establishment of formal Science
Figure1: The JWST telescope at Goddard Space Flight Center shortly before shipment to Johnson Space Center
for thermal testing, shown in comparison to the primary mirror planned for Origins Space Telescope.
Image: Peter Shirron/NASA, Graphic: NASA
and Technology Definition Teams (STDT) for
front-runner concepts. These teams clarify the
science and measurement goals and define mis-
sion architectures and instrument suites. A key
feature is that the teams drawon a volunteer
basisfrom a wide range of specialties from the
science and engineering communities, allowing
the user and technology communities to guide
the mission definition. For example, at a meeting
of the study group for the FIR Surveyor at JPL
in June 2015, there was literally a vote among
attendees on whether a filled aperture telescope
or an interferometer was preferred. Typically,
the last step of the study is to flesh out the entire
satellite and generate a cost estimate. One tool
for this is NASA/Goddards Instrument Design
Lab and Mission Design Lab.
The NRC (specifically the Astronomy
and Astrophysics Survey Committee) is then
charged with assessing these mission concepts
for cost and feasibility, and prioritizing their
science. The charter also includes making rec-
ommendations for a broad, robust scientific pro-
gram. The committee considers not only large
and medium-sized space missions but also ob-
servations from ground-based and sub-orbital
platforms. It also identifies critical and enabling
technology and infrastructure investments.
The product of this assessment is the NRCs
Decadal Survey, which by its name implies a
10-year recurring timeframe for these studies.
Although that can impose its own constraints,
it turns out to be a rather efficient process for
NASA to identify which missions to promote.
The following is a priority list of large- and
medium-scale projects as identified in the last
three Decadal Surveys:

Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3 22 www.cryogenicsociety.org

1990: The Decade of Discovery in Astronomy
and Astrophysics
Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF)
Stratospheric Observatory for Far-Infrared
Astronomy (SOFIA)
2000: Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New
Millennium
Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST)
Constellation-X Observatory (Con-X)
Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF)
Single Aperture Far Infrared
Observatory (SAFIR)
Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope
(GLAST)
Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA)
Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope
(EXIST)
Advanced Radio Interferometry between
Space and Earth (ARISE)
2010: New Worlds, New Horizons in
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Wide-Field InfraRed Space Telescope
(WFIRST)
LISA (in partnership with ESA)
International X-ray Observatory (IXO) (in
partnership with ESA and JAXA)
The legacy of these decadal surveys is that
the rankings are highly predictive of eventual
implementation: SIRTF was launched in 2003;
SDO launched in 2010; SOFIA became fully op-
erational in 2014; NGSTnow the James Webb
Space Telescope (JWST)is currently on path
to launch in 2018; Con-X evolved into IXO and
other implementations and emerged as Athena
(the Advanced Telescope for High Energy
Astrophysics), which was recently selected in
ESAs L2 call for proposals as part of its Cosmic
Visions program; WFIRST, selected for funding
in 2016, for a planned mid-2020s launch; and the
LISA Pathfinder is currently funded as an ESA
mission with a NASA instrument.
Whats Next?
As the process for the 2020 Decadal
Survey commenced, four mission concepts
began to take shape and, as of early 2016, were
funded to support STDT teams to refine the
science goals and to define the basic architec-
ture and instruments:
The Habitable Exoplanet Imaging mission
is designed to search for life on Earth-like exo-
planets, [and] enable a broad range of general
Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3
astrophysics, from studying the earliest epochs
of the history of the universe, to understanding
the life cycle and deaths of the most massive
stars. (www.jpl.nasa.gov/habex/)
The Large UV/Optical/Infrared Surveyor
is ambitiously designed to access a broad
range of science, from the epoch of reionization,
through galaxy formation and evolution, star
and planet formation, to solar system remote
sensing. LUVOIR also has the major goal of
characterizing a wide range of exoplanets, in-
cluding those that might be habitableor even
inhabited. (https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/luvoir/)
The Origins Space Telescope will revolu-
tionize our understanding of planetary system
formation, detect previously unknown extra-
solar planets based on their sculpting effects on
protoplanetary and debris disks, unveil the dark
side of galaxy evolution. (https://asd.gsfc.nasa.
gov/firs/)
And the Lynx Study (previously X-ray
Surveyor Study) will focus its investigation on
how black holes began, how galaxies formed
around them and, generally, how the Universe
came to have the structure it does.
These studies are only just underway, but
some details are emerging that point to signifi-
cant opportunities for the cryogenics commu-
nity. While HabEx will not be cryogenic and
LUVOIR is baselining a warm telescope (with
an 8-16 meter primary mirror) and ~100 K op-
tics and detectors, OST and Lynx will be ex-
tensively cryogenic. OSTs telescope will have
an 8-15 meter primary mirror cooled to about
5 K, and like Lynx, its instruments will employ
very large format detector arrays operating
as low as 50 millikelvin. When you consider
that JWSTs 8-meter mirror (see Figure 1) is
radiatively cooled only to about 50 K and its
detectors are actively cooled to about 6 K, the
challenge of meeting OSTs cooling require-
ments is, to say the least, daunting.
The real trick for the study teams is to
craft mission concepts that will, 20 to 30 years
down the road, return critical cutting-edge sci-
ence that the Decadal Survey team will also
judge to be credible and cost feasible. Its a fine
line to walk and not an easy job, but if OST
and/or Lynx make the cut, the projects will
open massive opportunities in what might be
the most significant expansion of space cryo-
genics yet.
23 www.cryogenicsociety.org
Cold
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 Cryo-Oops
by John Jurns, senior cryogenic engineer, European Spallation Source ERIC, john.jurns@esss.se
CryO2ps
Introduction
I
t has been a hectic spring for me and
I wondered if I would have the time
to prepare something for this issue of
Cold Facts. However, our editor pointed
out to me that this issue will be distributed
at the upcoming Cryogenic Engineering
Conference, and it would be a shame to
miss the opportunity to contribute at least
a short article.
Also, I have been working on a series
of slides as part of a Cryogenic Safety
class that will be given just prior to the
official start of the conference. So, since I
had the material anyway, I thought that I
could share an oops related to oxygen
safety for those who will have missed the
Cryogenic Safety class.
Background
If you are reading this article, you
probably know all the fundamentals about
oxygenit makes up about 21 percent of
the Earths atmosphere, it is essential for
life, liquid oxygen boils at about 90 K, etc.
Besides being one of the most abundant
gases in the atmosphere, oxygen is also one
of the most common gases used, with appli-
cability to industry, science and medicine.
For example, every welding shop has an ox-
ygen gas cylinder for oxy-acetylene welding
and cutting, and almost every hospital has a
LOX dewar for oxygen respiratory therapy.
There are relatively few users of helium
in the world, but there are a lot of oxygen
users. And most of them are not engineers
or scientists.
Oxygen mishaps occur wherever it is
used, and these mishaps generally have root
causes in material incompatibility, materi-
als failure, design deficiency, cleaning defi-
ciency or procedural deficiency.
In 1971, NASA published a report ana-
lyzing a number of oxygen accidents. A figure
from that report is reproduced on this page
showing the relative incidence of each one.
Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3
Comparison of cause factors for liquid and gaseous oxygen (more than one cause factor is involved in most
mishaps). Image: NASA TM X-67953 (1971)
What stands out is that the leading
cause of oxygen mishaps is due to proce-
dural problems. That is, no matter how
good the design, no matter how diligent the
cleaning, no matter how carefully materials
are chosen, people will still make mistakes.
Oops
Let me share with you one of the mishaps
I ran across while researching the issue of oxy-
gen safety. This incident occurred on Prince
Edward Island in 2011 and was reported by
the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
While working alone in his welding
shop, a man was severely burned after his
clothes caught fire while using an oxy-acet-
ylene torch. The fire chief who investigated
the accident concluded that the hoses on the
welders torch had failed. Not sure if they
burned through or there was a failure in the
hoses themselves, but at any rate, the fire
did start in that area, the chief said.
In this case, oxygen likely saturated
the welders clothing, and with an open
source of flame, the clothing caught fire.
Materials that can burn in a normal atmo-
sphere can burn much more vigorously
when the oxygen concentration is increased.
This is only one of a number of oxygen-
related injuries that I found, but I think it is
25
indicative of the type of accidents caused by
human error.
Lessons Learned
The injured welder was likely well
trained in the use of oxy-acetylene torches,
so I doubt we can put any blame on that.
However, I think we can say that equipment
inspection and maintenance could have
played a part in this accident. Regular inspec-
tion and maintenance is paramount when
using oxygen equipment. Also, we note that
the welder was working alone. Although it is
not always possible, it is a good idea to have
a second person around when working with
hazardous equipment.
Summary
People have been working with oxygen
for over a hundred years, so the hazards of
working with it are well documented and
there are plenty of references on how to work
with it safely. At the end of the day, being
safe really all comes down to the individual
and how careful they are when using oxygen.
Rememberyou cant always eliminate the
hazard, but you can almost always reduce the
risk with diligence and caution.
As always, we invite you to share any of your
oops stories with us. Send them in to Brian Dudley
at editor@cryogenicsociety.org and well try to in-
clude them in this column.
www.cryogenicsociety.org
IRAS Maximizes Cryogenic Process Efficiency
by Dr. William Notardonato, bill.notardonato@nasa.gov; James Fesmire, james.e.fesmire@nasa.gov; and Adam Swanger, adam.m.swanger@nasa.gov, all
from Cryogenics Test Laboratory, NASA Kennedy Space Center

Low molecular weight and high spe-

cific impulse make liquid hydrogen (LH2) a
superior propellant for rocket applications,
but its low normal boiling point (NBP) and
density make utilization difficult and costly
compared to other cryofuels. The US Atomic
Energy Commission, and subsequently
NASA and the US Air Force, pioneered the
development of large-scale LH2 systems in
the 1950s, but over time the technology in
the industrial gas industry has seen tremen-
dous gains.

The space industry uses its cryogens in a

different manner than most industries, stor-
ing large quantities for periodic batch use
rather than continuous feed. It also requires
the product to be supplied to the end process
in liquid form, as opposed to liquid stor-
age but gaseous supply. NASAs cryogenic
ground systems and processes are still based
on proven but inefficient technologies from
the 1960s. As a result, over the duration of
the space shuttle program approximately 50
percent of the hydrogen purchased was lost,
vented to the atmosphere due to system heat
leak and cooldown of hardware [1].
Integrated Refrigeration and Storage
(IRAS) is a technology to help maximize ef-
ficiency of spaceport cryogenic processes by
integrating modern cryogenic refrigeration
units with liquid storage vessels. Brayton
cycle helium refrigerators are available
in a range of capacities and temperatures,
with demonstrated high efficiency and low
Figure 1. Dimensionless mass and energy chart showing the control capabilities gained with IRAS (blue dots).
Image: NASA
maintenance. In an IRAS system, a suit-
able refrigerator supplies a direct flow of
gaseous helium refrigerant to a cold heat
exchanger (HX) integrated within the tank,
and distributed throughout the bulk vol-
ume of liquid.
Distribution of cold power is the key
to obtaining an effective overall heat lift
without the large conduction heat leak
penalty associated with point-cold cryo-
cooler arrangements. IRAS technology
provides an approach of directly coupling
the cold HX with the cryogenic liquid to
minimize thermal resistance and expedite
heat transfer. This approach offers full
control of the state of the cryofuel using
addition and removal of thermal energy,
instead of being limited to management
via addition and removal of mass (i.e.
pressurization and venting). Such control
allows for greater operational efficiency,
greater control of ground operations and
enhanced performance benefits.

Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3 26 www.cryogenicsociety.org


Researchers at NASA Kennedy Space
Center (KSC) developed the IRAS technol-
ogy to demonstrate several novel cryogenic
operations. It features zero loss storage
and transfer, removing system heat loads
during both steady-state heat leak and
transient cooldown operations; propellant
densification to control the storage state
of LH2 below the NBP; in-situ liquefaction
to provide liquefaction of gaseous hydro-
gen inside the storage tank, and zero loss
cooldown to provide cooldown of storage
tanks with no product loss.
The ability to control thermal energy in
a tank is a new operational capability that
enables users to examine cryogenic stor-
age systems from a different perspective.
Consider a map that shows the net rate of heat
flow crossing the system boundary on the
X-axisnormal heat leak plus the vaporizer
heating minus the refrigeration power; and
the net rate of mass crossing the boundary on
the Y-axismass flow rate of pressurant gas
minus the rate of venting. The net heat flow
can be non-dimensionalized by dividing by
the normal heat leak and is hereby defined
as the refrigeration ratio (eqn. 1), while the
net mass flow can be non-dimensionalized by
dividing by the normal evaporation rate (NER)
and is defined as the mass ratio (eqn. 2).
1)
2)
In Figure 1, the positive X coordinates
are when the tank is receiving net heat from
the environment, negative X coordinates are
when the tank is dumping heat to the environ-
ment, and the Y-axis denotes an adiabatic sys-
tem. Similarly, negative Y values signify net
mass flow out of the tank, positive Y values
signify mass flow into the tank, and along the
X-axis the system is closed. At the origin, the
system is closed and adiabatic, and the pres-
sure will remain constant. An isobar can be
drawn through the origin at some negative
slopeall operations above that isobar cause
an increase in tank pressure, and operations
below the line result in a pressure decrease.
Cryogenic operations are particularly
limited in capability without IRAS technol-
ogy. Daily operations typically consist of vent-
ing at the NER (point A on the isobar) in order
Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3
Figure 2.
Cut-away view of the 125,000-liter IRAS tank built for
GODU-LH2 project showing internal stiffening rings
and IRAS heat exchanger configuration. Image: NASA
View inside the IRAS tank. Image: NASA
to accommodate heat leaking into the tank. If
the vent valve is closed, vent flow drops to
zero and heat leak causes self-pressurization,
shown as point B. Prior to liquid transfer the
tank is pressurized by the vaporizer, adding
heat and moving the operation to point C.
Occasionally liquid tanks are also pressur-
ized by gas trailers, as indicated by point D.
Finally, when the tank is vented the operation
would lay somewhere along the line between
E-A, depending on the vent flow rate, and
will eventually settle back at point A for daily
operations. Without IRAS, all operations will
occur on or to the right of the line EABD, the
passive line.
IRAS opens up the wide range of cryo-
genic storage and transfer operations located
to the left of the passive linemost notably,
the origin (point F), where the system is adia-
batic, closed, isobaric, and defined as zero
boiloff (ZBO). When the refrigeration ratio
increases beyond ZBO the tank pressure will
decrease and liquid will densify (points G
and H). Steady liquefaction occurs along the
isobar when the mass flow into the tank is
provided (points I and J).
The GODU-LH2 project recently com-
pleted at NASA KSC demonstrated opera-
tions located at all points of Figure 1, and
27
showed that full control of the state of the
fluid is possible as well as practical [2,3].
Red points represent legacy operations
while blue points represent new capabili-
ties proven by the GODU-LH2 project using
IRAS. For this work, NASA engineers took
a 125,000 liter LH2 tank, depicted in Figure
2, retrofitted it with a novel internal HX,
and coupled it to an 860 W Brayton helium
refrigerator [4,5]. Testing also included
simplified, large-scale production of slush
hydrogen. The technology of IRAS is ex-
tensible to other cryofuels including liquid
methane (or LNG) and liquid oxygen. In
addition, other fluid control issues related
to boil-off, such as aging of LNG or enrich-
ment of liquid air, could be addressed.
While ZBO keeps cryogenic liquids
indefinitely by matching the tank heat leak,
IRAS goes further to provide full control of
the state of the fluid: gas, liquid, densified
liquid, or slush. Cryogenic storage design ap-
proaches are generally built around passive
systems (i.e. without active refrigeration),
making the term non-storable synony-
mous with cryogenic propellants. However,
new design approaches that take advantage
of IRAS technology will render this descrip-
tion obsolete, and provide several benefits,
including simplified liquid densification and
keeping; operational reliability and safety;
and logistical flexibility. The technology of
storable cryofuels makes possible new lev-
els of efficiency as well as new approaches
to the supply of hydrogen for transportation
applications.
References:
[1] J.K. Partridge, Fractional consumption of liquid hydro-
gen and liquid oxygen during the space shuttle program,
in Advances in Cryogenic Engineering, AIP Conference,
Volume 1434, 2012.
[2] W.U. Notardonato et al., Ground Operations
Demonstration Unit for Liquid Hydrogen Initial Test
Results, in Advances in Cryogenic Engineering, IOP Conf.
Series: Materials Science and Engineering 101, 2015.
[3] A.M. Swanger et al., Integrated Refrigeration and
Storage for Advanced Liquid Hydrogen Operations,
in Cryocooler 19: Proceedings of 2016 International
Cryocooler Conference, 2016.
[4] J.E. Fesmire et al., Integrated heat exchanger design
for a cryogenic storage tank, in Advances in Cryogenic
Engineering, AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 1573, 2014.
[5] A.M. Swanger et al., Modification of a Liquid
Hydrogen Tank for Integrated Refrigeration and Storage,
in Advances in Cryogenic Engineering, IOP Conf. Series:
Materials Science and Engineering Volume 101, 2015.
www.cryogenicsociety.org
Zero Boiloff Tank Experiments aboard ISS
by Dr. Mohammad Kassemi, NASA Glenn Research Center, Mohammad.Kassemi@nasa.gov; and Dr. David Chato, ret. NASA Glenn Research Center
Figure 1. ZBOT hardware in the MSG mockup at NASA
Marshall Space Flight Center. Image: NASA
Affordable and reliable cryogenic fluid
storage for propellant or life support systems is
integral to all phases of NASAs projected space
and planetary expeditions. One challenge facing
engineers is self-pressurization. It can be caused
by the cryogen vaporization that results from
heat leaks into a tank from its surroundings
and support structure. Engineers can relieve
this self-pressurization through venting, but
repeated venting of the vapor during long-
duration on-orbit or on-surface storage will
result in significant propellant loss, rendering
the cost of long distance human space expedi-
tions prohibitive [1].
This realization has provided a signifi-
cant impetus for researchers to develop in-
novative pressure control designsbased
on mixing the bulk tank fluid together with
some form of active or passive coolingto
allow storage of cryogenic fluids with zero or
reduced boiloff. Complicated dynamic inter-
actions govern both tank pressurization and
pressure control, including those between
forced mixing, various gravity-dependent
transport mechanisms in the vapor and liquid
phases, and the condensation-evaporation
process at the interface. Consequently, effec-
tive implementation and optimization of a
dynamic pressure control system for space
applications can be difficult to achieve, es-
pecially without prior relevant microgravity
experimental data.
The Zero Boiloff Tank (ZBOT) experiments
are a series of small-scale tank pressurization
Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3
Figure 2. Schematic of ZBOT hardware components in MSG and cross-sectional view of test tank within the
vacuum jacket. Image: NASA
and pressure control experiments aboard the
International Space Station (ISS). ZBOT uses
a transparent and volatile simulant fluid in a
transparent sealed tank to delineate various
fluid flow, heat and mass transport and phase
change phenomena that control storage tank
pressurization and pressure control in micro-
gravity [2]. Figure 1 shows the hardware for
ZBOT-1. It flew to ISS in April 2017, the first
of three envisioned hierarchical experiments.
Researchers plan to use the setup for more
than 90 tests beginning in September. They
will study and quantify fluid flow and ther-
mal stratification during self-pressuriza-
tion, and mixing, thermal destratification,
depressurization and jet ullage penetration
during the pressure control intervals.
Researchers are also developing a com-
prehensive two-phase Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD) model for simulation and
prediction of storage tank pressurization
and pressure control [3]. The model uses a
volume-of-fluid scheme to capture the two
phases and tracks velocity, temperature and
multi-component species concentrations in
both domains under tight couplingwith
the evaporative condensing mass transfer
and energy-and-force balances at the phase
front. At this stage, the CFD model is par-
tially verified and validated with ZBOT
ground-based data and existing large-scale
1G LH2 experiments performed by NASA. It
will be further validated by the micrograv-
ity data provided by the ZBOT experiments
for space applications.
28
Figure 2 shows a schematic of the main
components of the ZBOT-1 hardware in the
Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) and a
cross-sectional view of the test cell. The test
cell is made of polished optical quality cast
acrylic and consists of a cylindrical midsec-
tion capped at its two ends by hemispherical
domes (4 diameter by 8 height). Engineers
mounted a strip heater on the outer surface of
the cylindrical acrylic wall, a jet flow nozzle at
the bottom that is activated during pressure
control tests and a screened liquid acquisition
device that ensures only liquid is extracted,
thermally conditioned and pumped in
through the nozzle during jet flow mixing
cycles. The test cell is isolated from the MSG
environment via a temperature-controlled
vacuum jacket that is, in turn, enclosed within
another cooling jacket. The design provides
proper containment and definable and con-
trollable thermal boundary conditions for
model validation. A Fluid Support Unit (FSU)
is located just below the test cell in the MSG. A
counter-flow shell-and-tube heat exchanger in
the FSU maintains the tank fluid temperature
prior to each test and the jet flow tempera-
tures during the mixing cycles.
The simulant phase change fluid used
in the experiment is perfluoro-n-pentane
(PnP or C5F12), a nonpolar volatile refriger-
ant with a boiling point of 29C at 1 atm and
a near zero contact angle with the test tank.
NASA toxicology and ECLSS (Environmental
Control and Life Support System) groups
have approved a high purity (99.7 percent
www.cryogenicsociety.org
straight-chained n-isomer) version of PnP
for use on ISS. A bellowed reservoirshown
in the upper left corner of the MSG (Figure
2)stores the fluid that is degassed on orbit
initially, and before each fill level changeby
a radial flow membrane contactor, achieving a
high degree of purity (less than 5 torr residual
gases), and ensuring that any noncondensable
effects are eliminated during the ZBOT-1 tests.
Temperature-controlled windows on
the vacuum jacket accommodate camera and
white light/laser sheet illumination pack-
ages for both image capture of the ullage
and flow visualization and Particle Imaging
Velocimetry (PIV) in the liquid region. Tank
pressure and jet flow rate are measured using
a high accuracy pressure transducer and a
Coriolis flow meter. Engineers embedded 43
RTDs in the systemon a rack in the fluid,
on the inside and outside surfaces of the tank
wall, on the VC and in the jet flow lineto
measure fluid and wall temperatures with the
precision and accuracy required for computa-
tional model validation.
ZBOT-1 will conduct self-pressurization
tests under three modesvacuum jacket
heating, strip heating and simultaneous vac-
uum jacket and strip heatingin an attempt
to simulate heat leaks from the environment,
the support structure and both together. In
order to have consistent data conducive for
model validation, researchers will perform all
self-pressurization tests under the same quan-
tifiable conditions established during the pre-
test tank preparation by intervals of constant
temperature mixing and hold.
Researchers will also conduct pressure
control studies, performed either from an
elevated uniform temperature condition
or from thermally stratified conditions fol-
lowing a self-pressurization run. Liquid
will be drawn from the tank for the stud-
ies, passed through the heat exchanger in
the FSU and then injected into the tank at
a given flow rate, either at the average tank
fluid temperature for mixing only and ul-
lage penetration studies or at a prescribed
subcooled level for active cooling pressure
control tests.
Jet flow rates are varied from 2-25
cm/s spanning a range of jet Re numbers in
laminar, transitional and turbulent regimes;
Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3
Figure 3. ZBOT CFD simulations of microgravity jet mixing and ullage penetration at three different jet flow
rates. Image: NASA
and a range of Weber numbers covering no
ullage penetration, partial penetration and
complete ullage penetration and break-up.
Figure 3 shows sample microgravity jet
mixing and ullage penetration CFD simula-
tions that were used to guide the design of
the microgravity experimental test matrix.
Since particle injection and PIV will be
carried out for the first time with this class
of nonpolar fluids in microgravity, ZBOT-1
tests will be performed with and without
particle injection to ensure the integrity of the
primary temperature and pressure data is not
compromised. The ZBOT-1 microgravity test
matrix will thus consist of an array of 67 tests
performed first without particle injection and
PIV. Researchers will vary fill level, heating
mode, vacuum jacket temperature and heater
power during the self-pressurization runs,
and vary fill level, jet speed and jet tempera-
ture during the pressure control and ullage
penetration tests. After the completion of the
first test array, researchers will inject particles
and conduct 25 additional self-pressurization
and jet mixing tests with PIV measurements.
The digital imaging and machine readable
textual/numerical data from the experiments
will be continuously downloaded. Both the
raw experimental data and a set of reduced
data analyzed and processed by the ZBOT
science team will be stored together with CFD
simulation results on the ISS Physical Sciences
Open System Repository Server that is operated
and maintained by NASA. Approximately one
year after the end of ZBOT-1s microgravity
29
operations, NASA plans to release its data to
the entire scientific and engineering community.
NASA is also planning two follow-on
ZBOT microgravity experiments. ZBOT-2 is
designated to fly to ISS in 2022. It will focus
on studying the transport and kinetics ef-
fects of noncondensable pressurant gases
on interfacial evaporation and condensation
mass transfer rates during pressurization and
pressure control. ZBOT-3 will follow at a still
undetermined time. It will examine other ac-
tive pressure control mechanisms such as the
spray-bar droplet pressure control, with special
attention devoted to delineating the details of
droplet transport in microgravity and heat and
mass transfer interactions between the droplets
and the ullage during the spray mixing cycles.
References
1. J. Salzman, Fluid management in space-based sys-
tems, in Proceedings of the Engineering, Construction,
and Operations in Space, 5th International Conference on
Space, Vol. 1, 1996.
2. S. Barsi and M. Kassemi, Investigation of Tank
Pressurization and Pressure Control-Part I: Experimental
Study, in ASME Journal of Thermal Science and
Engineering Applications, Vol. 5, No 2, 2013.
3. C. Panzarella and M. Kassemi, On the validity of purely
thermodynamic descriptions of two-phase cryogenic fluid
storage, in Journal of Fluid Mechanics 484, 2003.
Acknowledgement
Funding from the ISS Microgravity Physical Sciences
Program, NASA HQ, tireless efforts by William Sheredy,
ZBOT Project Manager, and John McQuillen, ZBOT Project
Scientist, and CFD work by Sonya Hylton and Dr. Olga
Kartuzova are gratefully acknowledged.
www.cryogenicsociety.org
 NASA Continues Manufacturing, Testing
Worlds Most Powerful Rocket
Figure 1. Liquid hydrogen tank structural qualification test article being prepared for shipping to NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville AL for testing later
in 2017. Image: NASA/MSFC Michoud, Judy Guidry
Engineers at multiple NASA facilities are
busy this summer with the continued manu-
facture and testing of equipment for the agen-
cys Space Launch System (SLS). The rocket,
often called the worlds most powerful,
will launch both crew and massive amounts
of cargo on future deep space missions. Each
part of SLS must undergo numerous tests to
ensure the rocket and its components have
been designed, manufactured and integrated
to withstand the stresses of launch.
An SLS core stage test article was re-
cently shipped by barge from the Michoud
Assembly in New Orleans to the Marshall
Space Flight Center in Huntsville AL for
planned structural loads testing. Engineers
will use hydraulic cylinders to push, pull,
twist and bend the test article with millions
of pounds of force to ensure the hardware
can withstand the extreme forces of launch
and ascent. This test article is the first of four
manufactured at Michoud and is designed to
the same specifications as the engine section
that will fly on the first SLS mission with the
Orion spacecraft. It will be located at the bot-
tom of the rockets core stage, and will house
four RS-25 engines and serve as an attachment
point for two solid rocket boosters.
Completing these SLS structural tests
puts NASA one step closer to the launch
Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3
Figure 2. SLS intertank. Image: NASA/MSFC Michoud,
Judy Guidry
pad, says John Honeycutt, the SLS program
manager at Marshall. Our upcoming core
stage testing will continue the largest testing
campaign for a NASA rocket since the space
shuttle.
Engineers at the Michoud facility have
also finished manufacturing the liquid hy-
drogen tank structural test article (Figure 1)
and are wrapping up assembly of the flight
intertank structural assembly (Figure 2). The
intertank will be located between the core
stage liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen
tanks. It is the only piece of the core stage that
is made by bolting pieces together, rather than
by welding. It is also the thickest core stage
structure because it has to be strong to with-
stand the forces of the solid rocket boosters
attached to it.
30
The Michoud team will soon apply ther-
mal protection systems to the intertank, while
the liquid hydrogen tank is being prepared
for transport to Marshall.
NASA says that it has made significant
progress overall with SLS to prepare for
deep space exploration, but acknowledges
there have been production hurdles to
overcome. This includes delays at Michoud
due to both unforeseen issues, like tornado
damage, and human error. Crews recently
damaged the rear dome of the liquid oxy-
gen tank test article, for example, during
pre-weld preparations.
NASA and Boeing, the agencys prime
contractor for SLS, have done extensive work
to develop weld parameters and processes for
making the first-of-their-kind large fuel tanks.
Investigative teams from both groups are
looking into the dome mishap. Small things
from the tiniest screws to each weld matter,
says Honeycutt. Our engineers are learning
as we work with Boeing to tackle challenges
from aligning robotic weld machines off by as
little as the width of a paper clip to address-
ing the fact that tiny threads on welding pins
affect weld strength. Were working together
to ensure critical flight hardware is handled
safely in the factory and as it is moved thou-
sands of miles by ships, trains and planes.
www.cryogenicsociety.org

Artist rendering of Boeings Phantom Express preparing to launch its expendable second stage. Image: Boeing
The Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) has inched closer to its goal
of fabricating a reusable aircraft capable of fly-
ing to the edge of space, selecting Boeing to
complete design work for Phase 2 and 3 of the
Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) program.
The XS-1 would be neither a traditional
airplane nor a conventional launch vehicle but
rather a combination of the two, with the goal
of lowering launch costs by a factor of ten and
replacing todays frustratingly long wait time
with launch on demand, says Jess Sponable,
a DARPA program manager. Were very
pleased with Boeings progress on the XS-1
through Phase 1 of the program and look
forward to continuing our close collaboration
in this newly funded progression to Phases 2
and 3fabrication and flight.
Boeings designcalled Phantom
Expresswill be an unmanned vehicle,
roughly the size of a business jet. It will
take off vertically like a rocket but will land
horizontally like modern aircraft. The vehicle
requires no external boosters. It is powered
instead by the Aerojet Rocketdyne AR-22 en-
gine, a reusable version of the legacy Space
Shuttle main engine that operates using
liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fuel.
It will be used to launch small3,000
Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3
DARPA and Boeing
Board the Phantom Express
Artist rendering of Phantom Express on launchpad.
Image: Boeing
lbs.satellites into low Earth orbit using an
expendable upper stage deployed after the
vehicle reaches suborbital altitude. The reus-
able first stage will then bank and return to
its runway where engineers will prepare it
for another flight. DARPA and Boeing say
this preparation could potentially be achieved
within hours and could help enable a future
commercial service that operates with recur-
ring costs of as little as $5 million per launch.
Phantom Express is designed to disrupt
and transform the satellite launch process as
we know it today, creating a new, on-demand
space-launch capability that can be achieved
more affordably and with less risk, says Darryl
Davis, president of Boeing Phantom Works.
DARPA says the new class of hyper-
sonic aircraft will bolster national security by
33
providing short-notice and low-cost access
to space, allowing the US to more rapidly re-
cover from a catastrophic loss of military or
commercial satellites.
XS-1 Phase 2 will run through 2019. It
covers design, construction and testing of
Boeings technology demonstration vehicle,
and calls for firing the vehicles engine on the
ground 10 times over 10 days to demonstrate
propulsion readiness for flight tests.
Phase 3 is currently scheduled for 2020,
according to DARPA, and will include 12 to
15 flight tests. The schedule calls for multiple
shakedown flights designed to reduce risk,
and then 10 flights over 10 consecutive days,
at first without payloads and at speeds as fast
as Mach 5. Subsequent flights, planned to fly
as fast as Mach 10, will deliver a demonstra-
tion payload between 900 and 3,000 lbs. into
low Earth orbit.
Were delighted to see this truly futur-
istic capability coming closer to reality, says
Brad Tousley, director of DARPAs Tactical
Technology Office (TTO), which oversees XS-1.
Demonstration of aircraft-like, on-demand and
routine access to space is important for meeting
critical Defense Department needs and could
help open the door to a range of next-generation
commercial opportunities.
www.cryogenicsociety.org
NIST Probes Future of Supercomputing
NIST researchers have developed an au-
tomated probe system to evaluate computer
components submitted by both private sector
and federal labs to the Cryogenic Computing
Complexity (C3) program. C3 aims to enable
a new generation of low-power supercon-
ducting supercomputers that operate at liq-
uid helium temperatures and use ultra-fast
switching of microscopic circuit elements
called Josephson junctions.

The program is supported by IARPA

and adheres to guidelinesenvisioned in the
National Strategic Computing Initiative
that call for components to perform 100 times
faster than todays best supercomputers using
only 1/1000 of the energy.

This partnership with IARPA on

the C3 supercomputing program, says
Bob Hickernell, chief of NISTs Quantum
Electromagnetics Division, combines the
expertise of industry leaders in both cryo-
genic memory and logic circuitry devel-
opment together with NISTs expertise in
superconducting electronics and magnetics
measurements at ultralow temperatures
to accelerate progress that promises high
impact in areas including biomedical un-
derstanding and treatments, advanced
materials development and high-accuracy
weather forecasting.
NIST is responsible for characterizing
each individual device (typically 100 nm to 1 m)
in each chip (typically 5 mm to 10 mm in size)
and its subcomponents at 4 K. The team uses
a cryostat that has a temperature instability
of only 50 millikelvins. It houses a NIST-
designed three-axis manipulator guided by
an optical feedback system to probe specific
points. The researchers also test the same
devices at room temperature to look for
correlations in properties across a span of
about 300 K. This range of testing, according
to NIST, allows room temperature testing of
devices to provide quantitative predictive be-
havior at 4 K.
What they want NIST to do is verify
that those devices perform as the mak-
ers say they do, says William Rippard,
leader of NISTs Spin Electronics Group,
which is testing memory components.
That means that we have to be able to
The probe head (right) moves across circuit components on a chip. Image: NIST
measure uncommonly faint signals on
unusually fast time scales. Both have re-
quired us to develop new measurement
capabilities. The new probe system is a
major part of that effort.
The system is fully automated and is
capable of exactly positioning the probe tip
using optical feedback from a camera looking
down at the surface of the chip at 4 K. This ar-
rangement allows the probe tip to move over
the device in precisely incremented steps, and
increases the efficiency of evaluating circuits
that could contain large arrays of 10,000 or
more Josephson junctions.
Another challenge is the speed in-
volved. The superconducting circuits op-
erate on time scales of picoseconds (ps), a
millionth of a millionth of a second. In a
typical setup, you have maybe two meters
of cable that runs between the device youre
testing and the instrumentation, Rippard
says. When a picosecond pulse travels
through that much cable, it gets attenuated
and spread out. What started as a really
sharp signal is stretched out until it looks
like a bell curve.
To circumvent that problem, the group
is devising specialized circuits that will allow
for signal amplification only centimeters away
from the chip that produced it. Conversely, to
send ultra short signals to the chip, the team
uses a femtosecond laser (firing at pulse of
light 0.2 ps in duration) and converts the opti-
cal signal to an electric pulse in the range of a
few picoseconds.
The probe electrodes can be replaced
with highly responsive sensors that measure
a 2D pattern of magnetic activity across the
chip. The system currently uses a read-write
head from a hard disk drive to measure those
fields, but the team is developing a more sen-
sitive replacement.
The magnetic data creates a map of cur-
rent flow that reveals buried electrical layers.
And the measurements also help research-
ers locate the vorticessmall eddies of cur-
rentthat form under certain conditions in
superconducting materials; and determine
whether the vortices are immobile (pinned
in a single location) or can move around the
superconducting circuit and thereby generate
resistance to supercurrent flow.

Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3 34 www.cryogenicsociety.org

Reviving SMES, One Niche at a Time
Many projects in applied supercon-
ductivity hold great promise for the energy
sector, but have failed to catch on due to
cost, competition from established systems,
perceived risk and other factors. Among
them is Superconducting Magnetic Energy
Storage (SMES), a system that stores energy
in the form of a magnetic field. Storing en-
ergy in a superconducting magnet is not a
new idea, but Tallahassee-based Energy to
Power Solutions (e2P) may have just pro-
vided a refresh that will garner renewed
attention. The company specializes in niche
applications, and included in its recent
designs are prototype SMES devices for
ARPA-E and the US Air Force that demon-
strate far greater energy storage capacities
than previously achieved.
I think things in superconductivity are
going to stay in the niche market until they can
expand elsewhere because people have to see
it working in certain applications, niche appli-
cations, before they are going to feel comfort-
able adopting it, says Dr. Christopher Rey,
e2Ps founder and president. And thats of energy a system could store. Energy stored
something that my company focuses on, niche
special applications where superconductivity
can offer a premium for performance. In this
case, the premium in performance is space
savings, weight savings, safety savings and
power delivery.
Rey, a CSA Director and Boom
awardee, says that e2P has developed a
way of enhancing the amount of current
that high temperature superconductors can
carry. The method is proprietary, but the
results are tangible. I think we can build
a power delivery device thats superior to
even ultracapacitors in terms of power den-
sity and in terms of being able to scale to
higher powers with fairly straightforward
cryogenic logistics.
A SMES device can be charged and dis-
charged rapidly without degradation or loss
of system life, providing relatively high power
delivery. Dr. Roger Boom, mentor to many at
the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was
one of the first proponents of SMES, back in
the 1970s and 80s when the systems used low
temperature superconductors (LTS) such as
niobium-titanium (NbTi). These early SMES
devices had low energy storage densities and
Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3
Conceptual design of a HTS SMES device. Image: Energy to Power Solutions
were often large, difficult to transport and ex-
pensive to build.
The discovery of high temperature su-
perconductors (HTS) allowed SMES to ob-
tain higher fields and increased the amount
recognized energy storage devices. We kind
in a magnet is proportional to the square of
the field. Switching from an LTS NbTi with a
magnetic field of 7 Tesla to an HTS like Y-Ba-
Cu-O (YBCO) at 14 Tesla, for example, would
result in four times the energy storage. HTS
also allowed engineers to simplify the cryo-
genics, developing SMES systems to operate
with cryocoolers at higher temperatures and
reduce the overall size and cost.
The e2P team is looking to take these ad-
vancements even further. A future HTS SMES
device could be made small enough to transport
by aircraft or rail, according to Rey, and could
be factory built at far lower cost in quantities
sufficient to take advantage of economies of
scale. The cost of such devices, however, would
remain a premium. SMES devices are not low
cost energy storage devices, he says. A battery
is a low cost energy storage device, but batteries
are not very good power delivery devices. You
can store a lot of energy in a battery, but you
cannot pull it out quickly or too often.
Rey says that SMES would work well on
transportable craft, such as electric powered
aircraft or military delivery systems where
engineers want to safely achieve high power
delivery that can be repeatedly cycled. His
37
cautionary takeaway, however, is that HTS
SMES will remain a specialized niched ap-
plication for quite some time. But as we find
these applications where its performance is
superior to conventional technology, he says,
it will help pave the way for more typical,
of need to get our foot in the door before were
going to see more applications.
The e2P prototype uses YBCO and a
commercial cryocooler for cooling. The design
team has tested a nominal 75 kilojoule unit at
77 K and plans in the next phase of the project
to scale up to ~150-200 kilojoules and down
towards 20 K. Rey says that he watches the
HTS market and research closely, looking for
performance advancements in existing, prac-
tical superconductors that may hint at lower
cost and/or higher performing wire. I want
to emphasize to the materials community to
keep struggling and making material better
and producing lower cost superconductors,
he says, Thats going to help everybody in
the community.
After the next round of testing is complete,
Rey hopes the Air Force, which is funding the
project, will decide to move on to aircraft trials.
He acknowledges here a degree of uncertainty,
but it is a playing field hes comfortable navi-
gating. Superconductivity is hard to introduce
where existing lower cost conventional technol-
ogy exists, but find an application where per-
formance is the primary driver and youll have
a great market opportunity.
www.cryogenicsociety.org
New Form of Matter Is Supersolid
An MIT research team has created
a supersolid, a new form of matter that
combines both form and viscosity-free
flowproperties that most people consider
mutually exclusive. The team formed the
new material from a Bose-Einstein con-
densate (BEC), suspending the superfluid
gas in an ultrahigh vacuum and then ma-
nipulating the sample with a combination
of laser and evaporative cooling until it de-
veloped a periodic density modulation. A
lot of solids are crystalline, says Wolfgang
Ketterle, the John D. MacArthur Professor
of Physics at MIT. And the crystal means
that the density of the solid is periodically
modulated. By creating a Bose-Einstein con-
densate that is superfluid but that also has a
density modulation, we have combined the
properties of a superfluid and a solid.
Vacuum chamber used in the supersolid experiment. Image: MIT/Ketterle Group
Ketterle received the 2001 Nobel Prize
in physics in recognition of his 1995 co-dis- a BEC. Subsequently, several laser beams the supersolid from just a few photons
covery of BECs. His research team began induced spin-orbit coupling. at a time.
work on the supersolid two years ago, mo-
tivated to explore whether scientific ideas The researchers had to run the experi- Ketterles team includes graduate stu-
related to supersolids were both sound and ment through several cycles. Each lasted
dents Junru Li, Boris Shteynas, Furkan agr
compatible with the laws of nature. We around 30 seconds, creating a supersolid for Top, and Wujie Huang; undergraduate Sean
want to map out what is possible in nature, less than one. We can maintain the cold Burchesky; and postdocs Jeongwon Lee and
Ketterle says. We do it under idealized environment for longer, but since we are ac- Alan O. Jamison, all of whom are associates at
conditionsextremely low temperature, tively modifying the properties, the lifetime is MITs Research Laboratory of Electronics. The
nanokelvin, and extremely low densities, a shorter, says Ketterle. What matters is, does team described the experiment in A stripe
million times more dilute than air. And ulti- it live long enough that you can measure its phase with supersolid properties in spinor-
mately, the idea is that 10 or 20 years down properties and detect it? Often we only need bit-coupled BoseEinstein condensates, an
the road, the insight we create about new tens of milliseconds to do measurements. article appearing in Nature.
forms of matter will enable material design-
ers to find new materials. Getting to the point where the research- Ketterle says the group plans to con-
ers could take accurate measurements tinue exploring new forms of matter, some
This long-term vision, he hopes, may took longer than anticipated, according to more related to this experiment and some
eventually lead to room temperature su- Ketterle. The main challenge was to keep less. He wants to research other methods
perconductors. But for now, the research- all the balls in the air. We had so many la- that could lead to either supersolids or sys-
ers are experimenting at nanokelvin sers, electronics, vacuum. Everything had to tems with that property. The initial focus
temperatures. The supersolid experiment work at the same time. Everything had to be will be on other approaches to realize spin
used a commercially available vacuum precisely aligned. And, if the temperature orbit coupling in ultracold atoms. If you go
chamber, customized in-house with mag- in the room changed because the air condi- very, very cold, you have the potential to
net coils and other parts required to create tioning was not properly working, we could make new discoveries, he says, because at
the atom traps and cooling processes nec- lose a whole day or two of alignment. low temperature there are many new forms
essary for the experiment. The only thing of matter waiting to be discovered. We need
cold in the experiment was the atoms, Laser alignment was bloody diffi- the low temperature to make certain forms
held inside the vacuum chamber using cult, he says, because the signal level, of matter stable. You can only observe ice if
electrical and magnetic forces from laser the amount of signal we got from the su- you cool below the freezing point of water
light and magnetic forces from the magnet persolid was very small. When we scat- and you can only observe superfluid he-
coils. The cooling phase began with sev- tered light off the supersolid to detect lium if you go below 2.2 K. So thats why
eral sets of lasers, before the samples were its propertiesevery time we created nanokelvin temperature, the ability to reach
taken through evaporative cooling to the itwe just collected a few photons. And those low temperatures, is a tool to make
nanokelvin temperatures required to form so we had to learn many properties of new discoveries.

Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3 38 www.cryogenicsociety.org

  In Memoriam 
Edgar A. Edelsack 1924-2017
by Alex Braginski, Vladimir Kresin, Marty Nisenoff
and Bruce Strauss. Originally published by the
IEEE Superconductivity News Forum
Edgar A. (Ed) Edelsacka physicist
in the fields of nuclear physics, solid state
physics and applied superconductivity
died on April 4 of pneumonia. He was 93.
In the second half of the 20th century,
Edelsack distinguished himself as one of the
leading supporters of superconductivity in the
United States. He authored and co-authored
more than 50 papers, as well as co-edited The
Science and Technology of Superconductivity, a
two-volume book on superconductivity pub-
lished by Plenum Press in 1973.
One of Edelsacks proudest achieve-
ments at ONR was his support and initiative
for research in SQUID magnetometry, creat-
ing a bridge between superconductivity and
biophysics. In 1969, MIT constructed a mag-
netically shielded room at Edelsacks sugges-
tion, where the research team of David Cohen
and James E. Zimmerman recorded the very
first magnetocardiograms of the heart using
a SQUID magnetometer developed by
Zimmerman. This achievement led directly
to the establishment of biomagnetism as a
research area and clinical discipline.
Once retired, Edelsack served as adjunct
professor in the School of Engineering at
George Washington University and as a con-
sultant with the Institute of Defense Analysis
and HYPRES, Inc., where he later served as
chairman of the companys Scientific Advisory
Board. In 2002, IEEE awarded Edelsack its
first Max Swerdlow Award for Sustained
Service to the Applied Superconductivity
Community, now one of the prestigious
awards sponsored by the IEEE Council on
Superconductivity.
Edelsack was born in New York City,
where he attended high school and New
York University. He joined the US Army in
1943 and trained, while in military service, in
mechanical engineering at Washington State
College. He then served in the European
war theaterArdennes, the Rhineland and
Central Europeas a gun crewman in the
11th Army Division, 491st Armored Battalion.
The US Holocaust Museum in Washington
DC later honored Edelsack for his service as a
liberator at the Nazi Mauthausen concentra-
tion camp.
Edelsack is survived by his wife of 35
years, Charlotte Nusberg, son and daughter-
in-law, and two grandchildren. As a WWII
veteran, Ed will be interred at Arlington
National Cemetery.

In his early career, Edelsack stud-

ied physics at the University of Southern
California, constructed a 2 MeV electron
accelerator used for the treatment of can-
cer patients and managed the 2 MeV pro-
ton/electron accelerator for the Naval
Radiological Defense Laboratory in San
Francisco.

In 1967, he moved to Arlington VA

to join the Physical Sciences Division of
the Office of Naval Research (ONR). He
soon began the facilitys superconductive
electronics program, directing the group
as senior program manager until his retire-
ment in 1986. During that time he served
as a catalyst in starting the International
Cryocooler Conference and actively sup-
ported new forums such as the Applied
Superconductivity Conference (ASC). In
1986, he organized the ASC meeting in
Baltimore that celebrated the 75th anniver-
sary of the discovery of superconductivity.

Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3 40 www.cryogenicsociety.org

Product Showcase
In the interest of enhancing the value of Cold Facts and helping prospective customers find cryogenic products and services, we offer this
Product Showcase. We invite companies to send us short releases (150 words or fewer) with high resolution JPEGs of their new products.
This editorial feature is open to all companies and related manufacturers.

Eden Cryogenics Oxford Instruments NanoScience

EHe-90 Helium Purifier Superconducting Magnet
The model EHe-90 liquid helium cryogenic adsorber is used Recently, Oxford Instruments
by national laboratories, NASA and high tech companies to remove supplied a high field, wide bore su-
impurities in liquefiers and refrigerators where the system has been perconducting magnet to one of the
exposed to atmospheric gases. It is effective for removal of moisture Chinese Academies in Beijing. This
and air, increasing a systems operational efficiency by reducing custom 18 Tesla (at 4.2 K) magnet
both the time spent pumping and purging a contaminated system has a large bore of 150 mm and a
and the cost of replacing the helium. Contaminated helium has a high persistence of just 1.6 ppm/h
potential of seriously damaging heat exchangers, high-speed tur- to allow the customer to perform
bine expanders and other sensitive system components. long-term Scanning Tunneling
Microscopy experiments. The tri-
Edens helium cryogenic ple-vapor-shielded cryostat achieves
adsorber is built as a mo- a helium consumption of 280 cc/hour, which can be reduced to
bile unit for easy movement just 140 cc/hour using a patent-applied-for thermal mass method.
throughout a facility. Other
features include an evacu- High magnetic fields in combination with low temperatures
ation probe for filling and are needed by researchers to explore new areas in nanotechnol-
removing contaminated ad- ogy, bioscience and materials research, allowing studies at the
sorbent; a regeneration cycle; nano scale. Oxfords magnet expertise enables them to deal with
no cold mechanical seals; and the significant engineering challenges of coil stress and quench
easily replaceable o-rings for management in such high stored-energy magnet systems.
all warm seals. A range of
sizes are available upon re- Oxford Instruments continual innovation in this field has
quest, including dedicated or resulted in many such world-class superconducting magnets
mobile systems. for research and academia. www.oxford-instruments.com/
www.edencryogenics.com businesses/nanotechnology/nanoscience

Sensorbuild - Fabrika The iSurTEMP RTD sensors feature, reli-

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cryogenic applications is available with
Pt100, Pt500 and Pt1000 RTD sensor
elements. The sensors have been charac-
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able thermal coupling and accuracy, fast re-
sponse and effective electrical isolation. Sensor
mounting application assistance is provided.
Design I : RTD element laminated between
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Sensorbuild also fabricates tem-
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Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3 42 www.cryogenicsociety.org

Employment Showcase
Below is a sampling of Help Wanted ads currently featured on the CSA website. To apply for these or other positions, or place a help wanted
ad, visit http://2csa.us/jobs. Ads are free to CSA Corporate Sustaining Members and $150 for 90 days to all others.
University of Houston
Research Assistant
Professor (non-tenure)
The UH Department of Mechanical Engineering is looking
for candidates to conduct original research in electromagnetic,
thermal and mechanical testing of thin film high temperature su-
perconductor (HTS) tapes. A key responsibility of this position
is to investigate important issues such as flux pinning, critical
current performance, AC losses, stabilization and mechanical
robustness so as to support the development of improved HTS
tapes being fabricated at the University of Houstons Advanced
Manufacturing Institute.
Several reel-to-reel thin film vapor deposition tools, electro-
magnetic, thermal and mechanical testing equipment and ad-
vanced characterization systems are available at the Institute. A
faculty appointment requires a PhD in Engineering or Physics with
specialization in Applied Superconductivity, five or more years of
relevant work experience and a strong publication record in this
field. Apply online at: https://jobs.uh.edu/postings/35262
Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3
Honeywell
Lead Cryogenic Scientist and Cryogenic Scientist
Honeywell is looking for highly qualified cryogenic physicists
to apply their knowledge of cryogenic systems for unique industrial
applications. The ideal candidates will have a broad understanding
of low temperature physics, have intimate knowledge of cryogenic
systems and techniques, and will provide innovative techniques
and approaches to advance the state-of-the-art. Both positions lead
research projects and assist in developing new concepts, project
proposals and new technologies for future products.
US citizenship is required for obtaining and maintaining
government security clearance. Candidates must have a PhD in
Physics, Engineering or related field (or PhD degree expected
within the next six months). The lead scientist position requires
10 years experience with cryogenics principles, systems, and
standard techniques (graduate work inclusive), while the sci-
entist position requires five. www.careersathoneywell.com/
job/7076090/ or www.careersathoneywell.com/job/7076089/
43 www.cryogenicsociety.org
 People, Companies in Cryogenics
Auguste Cryogenics signed a long-
term liquid cylinder distribution agreement
with Taylor-Wharton, becoming the exclu-
sive distributor in Europe, Russia and Israel
for Taylor-Whartons extensive line of gas
and liquid withdrawal cylinders.
Brookhaven National Laboratory has
announced a $15 million allocation from
New York state to fund a cryo-electron mi-
croscope at the new Long Island Facility for
Electron Microscopy. The microscope will
operate at 77 K and will provide research-
ers with a new look at molecular structures,
perhaps revealing the root causes of many
medical conditions.
Nikkiso Co., Ltd. announced its acqui-
sition of Cryogenic Industries (CSA CSM),
a group of product and service companies
supporting both liquefaction and separation
plants for air gases and small-scale plants
for LNG liquefaction. The deal is worth an
estimated $440 million and is expected to
close in August.
Florida State University has hired
Lance Cooley, CSA board member and a
scientist at the Fermi National Accelerator
Laboratory (CSA CSM), to join the Applied
Superconductivity Center (ASC) at the
FSU-based National High Magnetic Field
Laboratory (CSA CSM). He will also have
a faculty appointment in the Department
of Mechanical Engineering at Florida A&M
University-Florida State University College
of Engineering.
Linde Gas North America LLC pur-
chased the assets and business of Transfill
Equipment Supplies and Services, Inc., a
supplier of medical oxygen and cylinder
testing and repair services to healthcare
providers in the southeastern US.
Stirling Cryogenics, a DH Industries
(CSA CSM) company, delivered two of
its new generation StirLNG-4 cryogenera-
tors to Sustainable Energy Solutions. SES
Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3
will use the units to re-liquefy methane
boiloff gas, part of the development for its
Cryogenic Carbon Capture process.
Toyota announced a new zero-emis-
sion hydrogen fuel cell system designed
for semi-truck use at the Port of Los
Angeles. Dubbed Project Portal, the
proof-of-concept vehicle was unveiled
at a press conference with port officials
and representatives from the California
Air Resources Board and the California
Energy Commission. The vehicle will take
part in a feasibility study this summer that
will examine its potential in heavy-duty
drayage applications.
Indium Corporation (CSA CSM) and
Yunnan Tin Group Company Limited
have developed a strategic technology
and materials partnership to supply
indium-based products to the Chinese
electronics and flat panel display (FPD)
production markets. Benefits include the
local production and supply of technolog-
ically advanced and high-quality indium-
based materials that meet the operational
requirements of generation 6.0 and higher
FPD coating processes.
Scientists from the LArIAT experiment
at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
(CSA CSM) have begun a proof-of-concept
test for the planned Deep Underground
Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). The re-
searchers are studying what will happen if
the space between detection wires inside the
future DUNE detectors is increased from
three millimeters to five, a design that could
help reduce costs.
GE Healthcare has acquired Asymptote
Limited, a company specializing in cryo-
chain technology for sensitive cellular thera-
pies. The acquisition fills a critical gap in GE
Healthcares end-to-end ecosystem of prod-
ucts and services for cell therapy production,
and will be an important piece of a portfolio
enabling the industrialization of these life-
saving therapies, according to GE.
44
Rocket Lab, an aerospace startup
based in New Zealand and Los Angeles,
successfully tested its Electron launch vehi-
cle during tests in late May. Two other tests
are scheduled for this year, one focused on
getting to orbit and the other designed to
Electron launch. Image: Rocket Lab
maximize the payload. The Electron is made
of carbon composite, and its Rutherford
engines are the first oxygen and kerosene
engines to use 3D printing for all primary
components.
Air Products has opened a cryogenic
air separation plant in Guangdong Province
in southern China. The facility will produce
both gaseous oxygen and nitrogen in a
modular space that allows for easier field
installation and requires less land, accord-
ing to the company.
The European Organization for
Nuclear Research (CERN) celebrated the
completion of its Linac 4 during a ceremony
on May 9. The new accelerator is expected
to allow the Large Hadron Collider to reach
higher luminosity by 2021. The machine is
almost 90 meters long, sits 12 meters below
ground and took nearly 10 years to build.
Engineers will now begin an extensive test
period and hope to connect the instrument
to CERNs accelerator complex over the fa-
cilitys long technical shutdown in 2019-20.
www.cryogenicsociety.org
 Meetings
& Events
intends to use Lockheed Martins
CERN, and the American Physical LMH-1 hybrid airships to transport the
Society (APS) have entered into an gas out of the country. The companys 27th Space Cryogenics Workshop
agreement through SCOAP3 to provide license includes three project areas in July 5-7
Oak Brook IL
open access to high-energy physics arti- Tanzania, encompassing more than
https://2csa.us/scw
cles published in APS journals. The part- 4,500 km of land with helium concen-
nership, which begins in January 2018, trations of up to 10.5 percent. CSA Short Courses at CEC-ICMC 2017
covers articles from Physical Review July 9
C, Physical Review D and Physical Madison WI
http://2csa.us/gm
Review Letters, extending the number Moscow State University has
of SCOAP3 journals to 11 opened a cryodepository of biotechno- CEC-ICMC 2017
logical plant material at its Center of July 9-13
. Excellence in Biotechnology. Researchers Madison WI
NASA has chosen Ball Aerospace plan to first place duplicates of valuable http://2csa.us/bs
to design and build a cryostat for its samples currently stored in a collection
25th International Conference on
Galactic/Extragalactic Ultralong Duration at Russias Institute of Plant Physiology. Composites / Nano Engineering
Balloon (ULDB) Spectroscopic Terahertz July 16-22
Observatory mission, or GUSTO. The Rome, Italy
http://2csa.us/gm
mission, led by the University of Arizona, NIST scientists have devised a novel
will measure emissions from the inter- hybrid system for cooling superconducting 18th International Conference on RF
stellar medium, helping scientists to de- nanowire single-photon detectors. It uses Superconductivity (SRF 2017)
termine the life cycle of interstellar gas a pulse-tube refrigerator cooled to 10 K to July 17-21
in the Milky Way. Researchers also hope precool a Joule-Thomson cryocooler that Lanzhou, China
http://2csa.us/gt
to witness the formation and destruction can then reach 2 K.
of star-forming clouds and to understand CRYO2017
the dynamics and gas flow in the vicinity July 20-24
of the center of the galaxy. Congratulations to Acme Cryogenics, Hefei, China
Inc. (CSA CSM). In April, the company cele- http://2csa.us/gx
brated 16 years without a lost time accident. 28th International Conference on Low
Airgas, an Air Liquide (CSA CSM) Temperature Physics
company and a leading US supplier of in- August 9-16
dustrial gases, opened a new air separation Gothenburg, Sweden
http://2csa.us/fj
unit (ASU) and co-located hydrogen plant
in Calvert City KY. The new ASU produces Cryogenic Engineering and Safety
liquid oxygen, nitrogen and argon, and Course
the liquid hydrogen plant produces liquid August 14-18
Golden, Colorado
hydrogen for a wide range of customer ap-
http://2csa.us/csmcryocourses
plications.
25th International Conference on
Magnet Technology
Helium One, a company that holds August 27September 1
Amsterdam
a prospecting license for recently dis-
http://2csa.us/gk
covered helium deposits in Tanzania,
CryoUsers 2017
September 4-6
Coventry, UK
Acme team celebrates accomplishment. http://2csa.us/gu
Image: Acme
European Cryogenics Days 2017
and 2nd International Workshop on
Cooling Systems for HTS Applications
September 13-15
Get your people and company news Karlsruhe, Germany
mentioned in upcoming issues. Email Brian http://2csa.us/gv
Artist rendering of LMH-1. Image: Lockheed Martin/ Dudley at editor@cryogenicsociety.org
Hybrid Enterprises today.

Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3 45 www.cryogenicsociety.org

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American Magnetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Rates: circle $ amount
CAD Cut, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Individual: $75 Student or retiree: $35

CEC/ICMC 2017. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Corporate, number of employees:

1-10, $450 11-25, $660 26-50, $870 51-100, $1,290
Cryo Industries of America.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 101-500, $2,340 501-1,000, $5,250 1,000+, $7,000
Cryo Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Front Cover Government/Non-profit, $450.

Cryoco LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 ALL foreign add $40, remit in US $ on US bank. No bank transfers.
Special Lifetime membership: US, $600; outside US, $750.
Cryocomp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Cryoconnect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Charge your membership
Cryofab, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Back Cover __Discovery __Visa __MasterCard __AmEx
Cryogenic Control Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Account number Expiration Security code
Cryogenic Machinery Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Cryomech, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Back Cover Signature

Cryoworks.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Please print

Eden Cryogenics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
gasworld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Name Title

HPD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Company
Indium Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Address
International Cryogenics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Janis Research Co., Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 City State/Country Zip + 4

Lake Shore Cryotronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Email Website

Linde Cryogenics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Inside Back Cover
Phone Fax
Lydall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
What is your involvement in cryogenics?
Magnatrol Valve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Master Bond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Send to:
Meyer Tool & Mfg., Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 New Memberships Cryogenic Society of America
218 Lake Street Oak Park IL 60302-2609
PHPK Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Front Cover
Fax: 708-383-9337
Quantum Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Scientific Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Join CSA online!
SGD, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
http://2csa.us/join
Sumitomo SHI Cryo America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Cold Facts is the official technical magazine of The Cryogenic Society
Sunpower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 of America, Inc. 218 Lake Street Oak Park IL 60302-2609
Phone: 708-383-6220 Ext. 302 Fax: 708.383.9337
Tempshield Cryo-Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Email: csa@cryogenicsociety.org Web: www.cryogenicsociety.org
A non-profit technical society serving all those interested in any phase
WEKA AG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 of cryogenics
SSN 1085-5262 CSA-C- 3869 June 2017
Printed in USA

Cold Facts | June 2017 | Volume 33 Number 3 46 www.cryogenicsociety.org