Cryogenic Principles and Applications

Abstract

The science and technology of producing a low-temperature environment is generally referred to as cryogenics. The word cryogenics has its origin in the Greek language where “cryos” means frost or cold and “gen” is a common root for the English verb to generate. Strictly speaking, cryogenics means to produce cold, yet the term has developed a more general connotation over years of usage by engineers and scientists. Today, the word cryogenics is associated with the production and study of low-temperature environments. Thus, a cryogenic engineer is a person who specializes in these areas. The expertise of a cryogenic engineer can vary considerably within this discipline. For example, he or she may be concerned mostly with heat transfer aspects of low-temperature fluids or alternatively, improved methods of producing low temperatures. Expertise in cryogenic engineering is in demand in a wide variety of technical fields including advanced energy production and storage technologies, transportation and space programs, and a wide variety of physics and engineering research efforts.