Natural gas produced at high pressure (50-70 bar) is the only industrial source of helium (He). A membrane separation process may offer a more efficient production system with smaller footprint and lower operational cost than conventional cryogenic system. Inorganic membranes with high mechanical strength are known to exhibit good stability at high pressure. In this work, two inorganic membrane...

The MicroBooNE detector, to be located on axis in the Booster Neutrino Beamline (BNB) at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), consists of two main components: a large liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC), and a light collection system. Thirty 8inch diameter Hamamatsu R5912-02mod cryogenic photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) will detect the scintillation light generated in the...

We present two cryogenic Application Specific Integrated circuits (ASIC's) realized with a GaAs MESFET process. A single-channel differential or double-channel singleended voltage sensitive preamplifier for 4.2 K operation, to be used with bolometric detectors, was realized and tested. A very simple structure working as a unity gain buffer or as a transconductance amplifier, or even as a shapin...

In this paper, the first silicon load cell is presented designed for measuring a load up to 1000 kg. A prototype has been realised. An improved cryogenic RIE process with high aspect ratio was developed for the fabrication of thin springs. Low temperature silicon direct bonding was used for the final assembly. The mechanical structure was tested using poly silicon strain gauges. Encapsulated re...

One key unit operation in oxyfuel power plants is the CO2 purification unit (CPU), expected to be needed in most of oxyfuel installations to reduce the content of non-condensable gases (mainly O2, N2 and Ar), originated from the oxidant excess required for the combustion, air in-leakages and the non-100% purity of the O2 produced in the cryogenic ASU. Auto-refrigerated cryogenic processes are t...

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 26.7 km circumference superconducting accelerator equipped with high-field magnets operating in superfluid helium below 1.9 K, has now fully entered construction at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics. The heart of the LHC cryogenic system is the quasi-isothermal magnet cooling scheme, in which flowing two-phase saturated superfluid helium remov...

In order to increase the reliability of the next generation of space transportation systems, the mechanical behavior of polymeric matrix composite (PMC) materials at cryogenic temperatures must be investigated. This paper presents experimental data on the residual mechanical properties of a carbon fiber polymeric composite, IM7/PETI-5 both before and after aging at cryogenic temperatures. Tensi...

LLE Review, Volume 90 49 Introduction The base-line direct-drive ignition target design for the National Ignition Facility (NIF)1 is a thick cryogenic DT-ice layer enclosed in a thin CH shell.2,3 In direct-drive inertial confinement fusion (ICF)4 a spherical target is illuminated by a large number of laser beams to provide a spherically symmetric implosion. Target implosions with cryogenic DT f...

A cryogenic shock tube has been developed as a tool for research in fluid mechanics and low-temperature physics. The shock tube was designed to operate with the test section immersed in a cryogenic liquid. A unique diaphragm-changing mechanism makes this shock tube an economical and practical device. There are several advantages in operating a shock tube at cryogenic temperatures. Shock waves o...