CEC Awards

SAMUEL C. COLLINS AWARD 2023 Prof. Dr. Ir. H.J.M (Marcel) ter Brake University of Twente, Faculty of Science and Technology The Netherlands In 1965 the Cryogenic Engineering Conference (CEC) established an award in honor of the late Samuel C. Collins, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One of Professor Collins’ most notable works is his invention of the modern helium liquefier. The Collins Award is awarded to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the identification and solution of cryogenic engineering problems and has additionally demonstrated a concern for the cryogenic community through service and leadership. The award is open to persons regardless of national origin. The CEC Awards Committee reviewed multiple nomination packages for highly qualified individuals and selected Marcel ter Brake as the recipient of the 2023 Samuel C. Collins Award. Marcel ter Brake received his PhD in 1986 at the University of Twente (UT) for his work on a SQUID-based horizontal-access rock magnetometer. Following his PhD, he became member of the Low Temperature Division at UT. Focus of his work was the realization of a Biomagnetic Center equipped with a magnetically shielded room and home-made multichannel SQUID-based neuromagnetometers. These magnetometers were all liquid-helium cooled. The advent of high-temperature superconductivity in 1986 allowed the use of small cryocoolers that were available on the market. The interfacing of these coolers to ultra-sensitive devices such as SQUIDs became an important field of ter Brake’s research. In this ongoing research, MEMS technologies were applied to fabricate cryocooler components. In addition to microcooling he also researched sorption-based compressors combined with Joule-Thomson coolers. These sorption coolers are essentially vibration free and are of interest specifically for optical instruments in scientific space missions but can also be beneficial in terrestrial applications. Marcel ter Brake was appointed Associate Professor at UT in 2000, and Full Professor and chair holder of Energy, Materials and Systems at UT since January 1st, 2010. Next to cryogenic technologies, this research chair investigates the use of superconductivity in high-current applications, focusing on systems to be applied in future energy chains. Marcel’s recent work is on ejectors to achieve lower temperatures and higher system efficiency in JT coolers. His work on the fundamental understanding of counter flow heat exchangers (CFHXs) and the associated mechanisms of flow maldistribution for two-phase flow in JT microcoolers. He has done excellent work on the heat-triggered switching of two-phase flow maldistribution in the heat exchanger of JT microcoolers by using both microscopic and temperature measurements that led to solutions to the challenge. Marcel ter Brake had a 10% Professor appointment at the Technological University of Eindhoven (TUE) from September 2004 to September 2010. He founded the Cryogenics Society of Europe in 2015 and until present he chairs the Board of that Society. Furthermore, he is lifetime member of the Cryogenic Society of America, chairs the International Cryogenic Engineering Committee and is board member of the International Cryocooler Conference. He has supervised and (co)-promoted 19 PhD students, has published more than 200 papers, of which 115 in refereed journals, and written 5 book chapters. Based on Marcel ter Brake’s impact in terms of technical achievement, leadership, and service to the cryogenics community, in the opinion of the awards committee, Marcel is a perfect example of what the Sam Collins Award is meant to recognize. THE RUSSELL B. SCOTT MEMORIAL AWARDS The Russell B. Scott Memorial Awards honor the first head of the Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory of the Boulder Laboratories of the National Bureau of Standards, now the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Mr. Scott was the founder of the Cryogenic Engineering Conference (CEC), the first of which was held in 1954 in Boulder, Colorado. He is the author of the book Cryogenic Engineering, published by the Princeton press in 1959. Mr. Scott retired in 1965 after 37 years at NBS and died in 1967. The Scott Memorial Awards provide an incentive for the production and presentation of high-quality papers at the Cryogenic Engineering Conferences, and recognition of authors who, in the judgment of the CEC Board of Directors, presented the best papers at the proceeding conference. The papers are nominated by the reviewers and editors of the conference proceedings. In 2023, two awards for the best papers delivered at the 2021 CEC Virtual Conference, and published in the IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, Vol. 1240, 2022, were presented at the 2023 Honolulu conference to the following: Best Paper for Cryogenic Engineering Research A Anand, A S Gour, T S Datta and V V Rao for their paper “50 kJ SMES magnet design optimization using real coded genetic algorithm” IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, Vol. 1240, 2022; 012137 Best Paper for Cryogenic Engineering Applications I Wells, J Bussey, N Swets, L Reising, C Butikofer, G Wallace, S Kulsa and J Leachman for their paper “Liquid nitrogen removal of lunar regolith simulant from spacesuit simulants” IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, Vol. 1240, 2022; 012003