Abstract
The recent progress in new cooling techniques of the high Tc superconductor(HTS) systems is reported and discussed with some practical examples. At the beginning stage of the HTS development in research laboratories, liquid nitrogen(LN$_2$) is the standard medium for an effective cooling. The success of HTS in many different application areas, however, has required a variety of need in the cooling temperature and the cooling capacity with specific design restrictions. While the utilization of alternative liquid cryogens such as liquid neon (LNe) or liquid hydrogen (LH$_2$) has been tired in some of them, even solid cryogens such as solid nitrogen (SN$_2$) or solid hydrogen (SH$_2$) may be another option in special applications. The gaseous helium cooled by a cryogenic refrigerator has also been a good candidate in many cases. One of the best cooling methods for the HTS is the direct conduction-cooling by a closed-cycle refrigerator with no cryogen at all. The refrigeration may be based on Joul-Thomson, Brayton, Stirling, Gifford-McMahon, or pulse tube cycles. The pros and cons of the newly proposed cooling methods are described and some significant design issues are presented.