From 174 to 107
The pile of rubble that recently appeared on the bend in the road between Restaurants 1 and 2, where Building 174 used to stand, will soon be replaced by the new Building 107, the TE Department’s new facility for surface finishing, electronic module design and Micro Pattern Gas Detector (MPGD) development. It is due to open at the end of 2013.
3D view of the future Building 107.
Cutting-edge particle physics requires cutting-edge engineering of the kind that isn’t in regular supply. So while CERN can outsource most standard surface treatments and the manufacturing of most printed circuit boards (PCBs) to industry in CERN's Member States, the most highly specialised requirements of experiments and accelerators have to be met in-house.
In CERN’s workshops, surface finishing experts develop prototypes and treat small series, often at a level of requirements which is not commonly practised in industry. For example, CERN’s specific surface requirements for radiofrequency and ultra-high vacuum applications mean that new bath compositions have been developed and optimised especially for use here. It’s a similar story when it comes to the electronic modules and PCBs: the technologies demanded by the Laboratory either combine the challenge of large areas, fine conductor track densities and a low total materials budget or require the study of special non-standard techniques, such as for the development of MPGDs. These kinds of developments require dedicated background knowledge and continuous adaptation of R&D techniques that are difficult to exploit directly by industry.
The current workshops that design, make and repair the electronic components are spread across three buildings, and ever stricter safety and environmental regulations mean that they are becoming obsolete. So the new facility, which represents an important part of the consolidation of CERN infrastructures as decided by the Directorate, will serve the dual purpose of improving working conditions for the personnel and uniting in a single building the surface finishing, manufacturing of PCBs, the design office, and the facility for the assembly and repair of electronic modules. It has the additional advantage of being just 100 m from the recently commissioned water treatment plant (Building 676) which will remove any potential traces of metal salts from the rinsing water used in the surface finishing processes and PCB workshops.
The roof of the new building will comprise some particular design features: it will be pre-equipped for the possible future installation of solar panels, and will include a car park with 70 spaces in order to partially compensate for a reduction of available spaces in the surrounding car parks. To highlight CERN’s measures regarding safety and the environment, air extraction systems will be installed above the treatment baths and the extracted air will be treated with scrubbers to remove any possible traces of pollution to the outside air while minimising the induced noise.
The requirements for the building were defined by a CERN project team set up in 2010 consisting of representatives of the future users (TE-MPE and TE-VSC), the Site Engineering group (GS-SE), the Cooling and Ventilation group (EN-CV), the Electrical Engineering group (EN-EL), and the HSE unit.
The construction activities for the new building are scheduled to start in July 2012 and will be completed by the end of 2013.
