LHC Dipoles: The countdown has begun
One of the LHC dipole magnets has just achieved a record magnetic field of 9 Tesla in one go without quenching. The challenge now is to increase the production rate to 35 magnets a month by 2004. As a new information panel in Building 30 shows, the countdown has begun.
The Director-General, Luciano Maiani, unveils the new electronic countdown panel for the LHC dipole magnets.
Those who might be inclined to doubt the determination of the LHC teams would be well advised to pay a visit to the fourth floor of Building 30. The entrance door to the corridor of the MMS (Main Magnets and Superconductors) Group, which is a hive of activity, sports an electronic panel displaying the number of superconducting dipole magnets left to make and the number of days remaining until the final delivery deadline of 30 June 2006. The idea for this display panel, which was unveiled by the Director-General on 11 October, came from Lucio Rossi, Head of the MMS Group, which is responsible for the construction of the dipole magnets. 'This panel shows that the goal is ambitious but achievable,' explains Lucio Rossi. 'We are confident of our success. I have even committed myself to a specific date!' Determined to banish any hint of pessimism, Lucio Rossi shows an unfailing determination, especially now that the technical difficulties have been overcome.
Lyn Evans, LHC Project Director, Carlo Wyss, Director for Accelerators, the Director-General, Luciano Maiani, Lucio Rossi, Head of the MMS Group and Jos Vlogaert, also a member of the MMS Group, seen at a drink to celebrate the technical performances of the dipole magnets and the unveiling of the new display panel.
The latest magnets to be delivered are performing excellently. After being powered up, the magnet with the code number 1012 produced by the French company Alstom-Jeumont went straight to a magnetic field of 9 Tesla without quenching*,thus exceeding the nominal operating field of 8.3 Tesla. A few days later, a magnet produced by the German company BNN (Babcock Noell Nuclear) also reached 9 Tesla after just one quench. 'These are the highest fields ever reached by operational magnets for accelerators,' underlines Lucio Rossi, 'which shows that the challenge is no longer a technical one but an industrial one.'
The MMS Group and the three producers - Alstom-Jeumont, BNN and Ansaldo - are now working flat out to meet this challenge. Twenty of the 1232 magnets that are to be installed in the tunnel have been produced to date. The goal is to gradually increase the production rate to 35 magnets a month by spring 2004. 'By the time we have reached the full production rate, 330 people will be working on the assembly of the cold masses at the three companies', observes Lucio Rossi. To ensure that the challenge is met, around 15 CERN engineers and technicians, led by Jos Vlogaert, are spending a large fraction of their time at the companies.
Finally, another piece of good news has lifted the teams' spirits. The German company BNN has continued its magnet production in spite of the financial crisis affecting its parent company, Babcock Borsig AG. The BNN subsidiary has been declared profitable by the courts, and new contracts have been signed.
* A quench, or resistive transition, occurs when a magnet passes from the superconducting to the conducting state and the heat produced generates resistance. A quench in a magnet would disrupt the entire LHC operating chain.
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