A method of improving an electrical conductivity and reducing an electrical energy loss in an electrical component, the method including enclosing the electrical component in insulation, cooling the electrical component to a user-definable temperature, maintaining the electrical component at the user-definable temperature for a user-definable period of time, and removing the insulation from the electrical component after the user-definable period of time.

A Meissner-Effect Transition-Edge-Sensor (ME-TES) microcalorimeter device may have one or more microcalorimeter elements, each including an absorber body composed of a superconductive element that is arranged to absorb incoming photons or radiative particles. A planar pickup coil substantially surrounds the absorber body and is located within a magnetic sensing distance of the absorber body. Absorption of incoming photons or radiative particles increases the temperature of the superconductive element, resulting in a change in magnetic flux through the superconductive element. This change in magnetic flux induces a transient electric current in the planar pickup coil that may be sensed using a readout circuit. A method is provided for fabricating an ME-TES microcalorimeter device.

A virtual thermocouple system for non-invasively predicting product characteristics is disclosed, which includes one or more temperature sensing systems including a resistive network which includes a temperature sensing device comprising a plurality of negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistors, and a load resistor, a corresponding system-on-chip coupled to a corresponding resistive network and configured to i) power the corresponding resistive network, ii) receive corresponding signals from each NTC thermistor of the corresponding temperature sensing device, iii) process the signal associated with each NTC thermistor of the corresponding temperature sensing device and thus generate data associated with each NTC thermistor, and iv) transmitting the processed data, a power generating device configured to provide power to the corresponding system-on-chip, and a base stations adapted to i) receive the processed data from a corresponding system-on-chip, and ii) using a predefined model, and non-invasively translate the processed data to thermal characteristics of a product.

A system for improving an electrical conductivity and reducing an electrical energy loss in an electrical component, the system includes a temperature sensor, insulation for enclosing the electrical component and the temperature sensor, a cooling source to be coupled to the electrical component through the insulation, and a computer connected to the cooling source and the temperature sensor, where the computer is configured to control the cooling source to cool the electrical component to a user-definable temperature as indicated by the temperature sensor and maintain the electrical component at the user-definable temperature for a user-definable period of time.

A method for determining temperature in the environment of an assembly includes at least one passive component, the passive component being integrated into a monolayer or multilayer assembly, including the following steps: determining the geometric inductance of the passive component, based on the dimensions of the passive component; measuring the inductance of the passive component, referred to as total inductance, the passive component being used in a temperature range such that it is in a superconducting state; determining the kinetic inductance of the passive component, based on the total inductance and the geometric inductance; determining the temperature based on the kinetic inductance of the component.

A temperature integrity sensor or more precisely a temperature continuity sensor of a product which needs to be kept at a temperature below its degradation temperature, is provided. The product includes a refrigerated or frozen edible product; a pharmaceutical product such as a vaccine, or an antibiotic; or a biological-medical product such as a sample of a body fluid or tissue, or an organ. The sensor is based on RFID technology, in particular passive RFID technology.

A method of X-ray characterization includes cooling a sample by delivering liquid nitrogen via a pipe to a sample stage of the X-ray diffractometer. The liquid nitrogen is discharged from the pipe to form a coolant stream. The pipe has an outlet to orient a flow of the coolant stream at the sample on the sample stage. The sample includes a substrate and a thin film formed on the substrate. During the cooling, diffraction data of the thin film and diffraction data of the substrate are collected by a detector of the X-ray diffractometer. A temperature of the thin film is determined based on the diffraction data of the substrate and thermal behavior of the substrate as a function of temperature. The thermal behavior of the substrate includes thermal expansion, thermal contraction or both.

A process variable transmitter for sensing a cryogenic temperature in an industrial process includes a cryogenic temperature sensor configured to be thermally coupled to an industrial process. The cryogenic temperature sensor has an electrical resistance which changes in response to changes in a cryogenic temperature and the industrial process is at the cryogenic temperature. Resistance measurement circuitry is electrically coupled to the cryogenic temperature sensor and measures a sensor resistance over a resistance range and responsively provides an output related to temperature based upon the measured resistance. Transmitter output circuitry coupled to the measurement circuitry to transmits information related to the cryogenic temperature to a remote location. The cryogenic temperature sensor comprises a polycrystalline silicon sensor including a dopant such that the cryogenic temperature sensor has an electrical resistance which changes over a cryogenic temperature range which is within the sensor resistance range of the measurement circuitry.