ASHRAE Student Chapter and CEEE Host Cryogenic Engineering Seminar

On Jan. 23, 2020, Prof. Sangkwon Jeong, of the department of mechanical engineering at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, visited University of Maryland and gave a lecture on cryogenic engineering to an overflowing room of both undergraduate and graduate engineering students, along with Clark School faculty members.

The seminar was hosted by the ASHRAE student chapter at University of Maryland, including CEEE faculty and students. Prof. Jeong’s research interests are cryogenics, cryocooler design, applied superconductivity system, cryogenic heat transfer, and refrigeration. He has more than 200 papers on cryogenics, applied superconductivity, and refrigeration, and more than 40 registered patents. Prof. Jeong received his PhD from MIT in 1992, and his BS and MS degrees from Seoul National University.

Abstract:

‘Cryogenics’ is originated from the Greek word “CRYO”, which means ‘cold’, and the word “GEN”, which means ‘generate’ in English. Nowadays, cryogenics includes all phenomena occurring below approximately -150 C or 120 K, much lower temperature than what we can experience so that it does not seem to be naturally available. There is ample reason for treating cryogenics as a special field even though it is different from other fields just in terms of temperature. The physical properties of materials at very low temperatures differ so dramatically from those usually encountered that people cannot just deduce the peculiar characteristic of cryogenics from their general knowledge. Cryogenic engineering is a technology that treats unusual phenomena at low temperature, covering not only physics but also chemistry, biology, mechanics, etc. This talk introduced several interesting applications of cryogenic engineering that are categorized as superconducting technology, gas separation & liquefaction, and medical applications. They are sometimes invisibly incorporated already in our modern society because various refrigeration techniques have been developed to create such low temperatures on earth. Some cryocooler technologies were discussed to show how such low temperature can be obtained in the cryogenic engineering laboratory of KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology).

Published February 13, 2020