25812377
Cryogenics for the Large Hadron Collider
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 26.7 km circumference superconducting accelerator equipped with high-field magnets operating in superfluid helium below 1.9 K, has now fully entered construction at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics. The heart of the LHC cryogenic system is the quasi-isothermal magnet cooling scheme, in which flowing two-phase saturated superfluid helium removes the heat load from the 36000 ton cold mass, immersed in some 400 m/sup 3/ static pressurised superfluid helium. The LHC also makes use of supercritical helium for nonisothermal cooling of the beam screens which intercept most of the dynamic heat loads at higher temperature. Although not used in normal operation, liquid nitrogen will provide the source of refrigeration for precooling the machine. Refrigeration for the LHC is produced in eight large refrigerators, each with an equivalent capacity of about 18 kW at 4.5 K, completed by 1.8 K refrigeration units making use of several stages of hydrodynamic cold compressors. The cryogenic fluids are distributed to the cryomagnet strings by a compound cryogenic distribution line circling the tunnel. Procurement contracts for the major components of the LHC cryogenic system have been adjudicated to industry, and their progress will be briefly reported. Besides construction proper, the study and development of cryogenics for the LHC has resulted in salient advances in several fields of cryogenic engineering, which we shall also review.
118122719
DESIGN, TEST AND PERFORMANCE OF THE LIQUID HELIUM CRYOSTATS FOR THE LEP SUPERCONDUCTING QUADRUPOLE MAGNETS
The experimental areas of LEP, the high-energy electron-positron collider presently under construction at CERN, will be equipped with eight superconducting quadrupole magnets, housed in liquid helium cryostats embedded in the complex detector set-ups. To comply with transverse space restrictions, the 2.5 m-long slender cryostats feature a 130 mm diameter warm bore and a horizontally-oriented service funnel at one end, equipped with 2000 A current leads. The cryostats have been designed by CERN, manufactured and assembled by industry, and tested in the laboratory. Besides design principles and constructional features, results of tests and comparative performance data are presented.
55204249
A Cryogenic Axial-Centrifugal Compressor For Superfluid Helium Refrigeration
CERN's new project, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), will use superfluid helium as coolant for its high-field superconducting magnets and therefore require large capacity refrigeration at 1.8 K. This may only be achieved by subatmospheric compression of gaseous helium at cryogenic temperature. To stimulate development of this technology, CERN has procured from industry prototype Cold Compressor Units (CCU). This unit is based on a cryogenic axial-centrifugal compressor, running on ceramic ball bearings and driven by a variable-frequency electrical motor operating under low-pressure helium at ambient temperature. The machine has been commissioned and is now in operation. After describing basic constructional features of the compressor, we report on measured performance.
116929466
The superfluid helium model cryoloop for the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
The high-field superconducting magnets of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will operate in static pressurized helium II at a maximum temperature of 1.9 K, irrespective of their position around the 26.7 km circumference of the machine ring. Their static and dynamic heat loads will be transported by conduction in the pressurized helium II, to a heat exchanger tube threading its way along the magnet string, in which flowing saturated helium II absorbs the heat in quasi-isothermal conditions. Following promising results obtained with heated flow tests on two-phase helium II, a full-scale 20 m-long thermohydraulic model of a LHC cryoloop was designed, built and operated, addressing key issues such as flow stability, steady-state heat transfer, transient response to varying loads, control strategies, and influence of slope. We present the results obtained and show that they validate the basic design choices of the proposed LHC cryogenic system.
133673972
Investigation and qualification of thermal insulation systems between 80-K and 4.2-K
122695581
TOWARDS COST-TO-PERFORMANCE OPTIMISATION OF LARGE SUPERFLUID HELIUM REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS
The field range of superconducting devices may be extended by lowering their operating temperature, using superfluid helium refrigeration systems which have to deliver working pressures down to 1.6 kPa. The corresponding pressure ratio can be produced by integral cold compression or using a combination of cold compressors in series together with "warm" compressors at room temperature. The optimisation of such a system depends on the number, arrangement and characteristics of cold and warm machines as well as on the operating scenario and turndown capability. The aim of this paper is to compare relative investment and operating costs of different superfluid helium cryogenic systems, with the aim of optimising their cost-to-performance ratio within the constraints of their operating scenario.
122472626
Recent results from Fermilab E687 on charm spectroscopy
Recent analyses of charm spectroscopy from Fermilab fixed target experiment 687 [1] are summarized. Emphasis is placed on the phenomenology of Cabibbo suppression in the meson sector. Such transitions have been observed in the semileptonic modes and hadronic modes. While the former transitions give us an opportunity to observe the weak current and the CKM matrix, a systematic comparison of the latter transitions allow us to study strong interaction effects, and possibly, light quark spectroscopy.
116611232
B Physics working group summary
Calculations of the B{sub c} spectrum of energy levels, transitions between levels, and weak decays of the ground state, as well as their production and observation at hadron colliders, are summarized. Also, recent experimental B Physics results from the CDF and D0 Tevatron experiments are reviewed and future prospects are discussed.
121495790
Ionization loss in BGO
Abstract We report on a precise measurement of the energy loss through ionization by pions in bismuth germanate performed at several values of the incident particles momentum with a prototype of the L3 electromagnetic calorimeter. The experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions showing the relativistic rise modified by density effect.
121120449
Design and simulation of muon ionization cooling channels for the Fermilab Neutrino Factory feasibility study
In the past few years, the concept of a high intensity muon storage ring has been pursued as an option for the next generation neutrino source. To produce the high intensity muon beam needed for the successful operation of a neutrino source, on the order of 1020 muon decays per year, the phase space occupied by the muon beam must be significantly reduced before the beam is accelerated. The initial transverse emittance of the muon beam before acceleration is assumed to be 9p mm rad. Because of the time limitation imposed by the muon lifetime, the technique employed to accomplish the desired emittance reduction is ionization cooling. In this paper we present two ionization cooling lattice designs, which use solenoidal focusing elements and liquid hydrogen absorbers to reduce the muon beam phase space. We discuss the design concepts and engineering constraints for these lattices and present simulation results obtained using a detailed tracing code with a complete model of muon-matter interactions. The reduction in transverse emittance is approximately a factor of 5. This result is within a factor of 2 of the total cooling requirements for a successful neutrino factory design and within a factor of 1.4 of the requirements for the main cooling section specified in the conceptual design of this machine.
122661128
A first approach to mechanical construction and cooling of a composite 3D silicon vertex detector
Abstract This paper presents first results on mechanical and cooling studies for a 3D silicon vertex detector designed for B physics at a hadron collider. Prototype modules were built from raw silicon wafers. One module was instrumented with resistors to simulate readout electronics. Both module movement and temperature variations were recorded. A cooling method utilizing simple air/helium flow was investigated, but proved inadequate because of too large temperature anisotropies.