LHC dipoles flood into CERN

At the beginning of December CERN had received 154 superconducting dipole magnets - enough to complete the first octant of the LHC. Only seven more octants to go!

When interviewed in October 2002, CERN's Director General, Luciano Maiani told the Bulletin that with a little over a year remaining of his mandate, one thing he would really like would be to see "the real industrial production of the LHC components get underway, with dipoles flooding into CERN". Now there are sure signs that Professor Maiani's wish has come true, and that industrial production of the superconducting dipoles for the LHC is both in full swing and on course for completion as planned.


The dipole nr 154 crowns the efforts of the LHC teams for increasing the fabrication rate of the magnets.

On 3 December the "tableau" on the 4th floor in building 30 indicated 1078 dipoles to completion - or in other words, 154 dipoles had by this day been delivered to CERN, enough to complete the first octant of the machine. CERN has also now received enough superconducting cable - the "heart" of the magnets - for 600 dipoles, nearly half the total number of 1232.



There is also good news regarding the performance of the magnets in terms of the maximum field reached. More than half the 92 magnets tested so far perform better than required, that is, they are suited for operation at 9 T; the other magnets do not have problems in reaching the nominal field of 8.3 T and only eight magnets out of the 92 tested so far have lower performance and might require some training in the tunnel.
Installation of the first dipoles in the tunnel is due to begin in spring 2004, showing that the LHC is now well and truly on its way. As Lucio Rossi, who leads AT Division's MAS (Magnet and Superconductors) Group, says "We had all better be prepared!"
On hearing the good news, Professor Maiani said, "All this did not happen by itself: we are here now thanks to the hard work and dedication of all the staff concerned. This is also thanks to the new spirit of collaboration and confidence brought to CERN by the approval of the Baseline Plan by Council last December and by the financing of the peak cost of the LHC by the European Investment Bank. I wish to congratulate all the staff on their wonderful work."


The majority of the 92 dipoles tested reached the nominal field of 8.33 Tesla during the first cool-down and after none or only one "quench" (the transition from a superconducting to a conducting state).