Cryogenic Fluid Management Technologies at Creare

Date: October 3, 2025; Time: 2:30 PM Location: PWEB 175

Abstract: Creare LLC is a small business of 190 employees in Hanover, New Hampshire.  The company has been in operation since 1961 focusing on research and development of highly engineered technologies and products.  Creare has a broad technology portfolio but a consistent business area since inception has been thermal and fluid management systems.  During the last 4 decades, we have worked on space-borne cryocoolers and cryogenic fluid/thermal management to support NASA’s space science and exploration initiatives.  More recently, we have worked on cryogenic cooling systems for detectors in proliferated space architectures for earth science and missile defense.  In today’s presentation, Dr. Zagarola will provide an overview of Creare’s work on cryocoolers and cryogenic fluid management devices, and the associated technical challenges with making these devices for space.

Biographical Sketch: Dr. Zagarola is a Principal Engineer and Partner at Creare LLC.  Since joining Creare in 1995, he has focused his efforts on the development of cryocoolers, advanced space-flight thermal management hardware, and cryocooler control electronics. He currently leads Creare’s cryocooler business area. During his tenure, he has provided programmatic and technical leadership to many cryocooler development activities including turbo-Brayton and J-T cryocoolers, the development of turbo-Brayton technologies such as advanced recuperators and gas bearing turbomachines, and development of cryocooler drive electronics.  He was chairman of the 20th International Cryocooler Conference (ICC), served on the boards of the ICC and Cryogenic Society of America, and was a technical editor for several volumes of Advances in Cryogenic Engineering. In 2024, he received the ICC Exceptional Service Award for his long-time contributions to the ICC and the cryogenic community.  Mark has authored or coauthored over 80 papers documenting his work in the field of cryogenics.

Dr. Zagarola received his B.S.M.E degree from Rutgers University and his M.S.M.E and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton University.  While at Princeton University, Dr. Zagarola designed, planned, and implemented a unique, 28 ton, pipe flow facility that provided accurate data at Reynolds number over one order of magnitude larger than previous experiments. Data that he acquired and theories that he proposed provided new insights into the scaling of wall-bounded shear flows.

Time series based robust damage and fault diagnosis for engineering structures and systems under uncertainty

Date: September 26, 2025; Time: 2:30 PM Location: PWEB 175

Abstract: The problem of damage and fault diagnosis for structures and engineering systems operating under uncertainty is addressed via statistical time series based methods. A critical overview of the main principles, underlying assumptions, and available approaches is presented. The issue of robustness, arising from the need for counteracting the effects of uncertainty, including that due to varying Environmental and Operational Conditions (EOCs) and populations of similar structures and systems, is demonstrated. The main approaches for achieving robustness are presented, with emphasis on conceptual and practical simplicity, ease of use, operation with a low number of sensors and limited numbers of training signals, physical interpretability, and the achievement of high-performance even for early faults. The novel holistic Functional Model (FM) based method, within which the subproblems of damage/fault detection, precise localization, and level estimation may be seamlessly integrated, is then introduced and its various forms are discussed. Application case studies, pertaining to damage diagnosis for engineering structures and systems under uncertainty are presented, with diagnostic performance systematically assessed. The presentation concludes with remarks on the status of the technology and future perspectives.

Biographical Sketch: Spilios Fassois is Professor and Founding Director of the Stochastic Mechanical Systems and Automation (SMSA) Laboratory at the University of Patras, Greece. He previously served on the faculty of the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. His research interests include stochastic mechanical and aeronautical systems, statistical time series methods, data-based modeling, diagnostics, Structural Health Monitoring, and Machine Learning with applications on structural, vehicular, aeronautical, and other engineering systems. He is the recipient of the 2023 `Evangelos Papanoutsos Excellence in Teaching Award’ at the University of Patras, the 1990 `Excellence in Teaching Award of the College of Engineering’ at the University of Michigan, and various other awards and distinctions. He is Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing (MSSP), Board Member for additional international journals, and Scientific Committee member for numerous international conferences. He has given numerous Keynote and other invited presentations, has organized 5 Thematic Issues for esteemed international journals, and published over 320 articles in technical journals, conference proceedings, and encyclopedias, with his work being supported by industry and national/international funding agencies.