Bager, T Casas-Cubillos, J Métral, L 1999 1999 Presently various commercial cryogenic pressure sensors are being investigated for installation in the LHC collider, they will eventually be used to assess that the magnets are fully immersed in liquid and to monitor fast pressure transients. In the framework of this selection procedure a cryogenic pressue calibration facility has been designed and built; it is based on a cryogenic primary pressure reference made of a bellows that converts the pressure into a force measurement. For that a shaft transfers this force to a precision force transducer at room temperature. Knowing the liquid bath pessure and the surface area of the bellows the pressure applied to the transducers under calibration is calculated; corrections due to thermal contraction are introduced. To avoid loss of force in the bellows wall its length is maintained constant; a cold capacitive displacement sensor measures this. The calibration temperature covers 1.5 K to 4.2 K and the pressure 0 to 20 bar. In contrast with more classical techniques that refer to a pressure reference at room temperature, the method presented in this paper avoid errors due to the uncertainty on the hydrostatic head calculation, to thermoacoustic oscillations and to pressure variation caused by temperature drift along the sensing capillary. Casas-Cubillos, J Gomes, P Henrichsen, K N Jordung, U Rodríguez-Ruiz, M A 1999 1999 Temperature measurement is a key issue in the LHC, as it will be used to regulate the cooling of the superconducting magnets. The compromise between available cooling power and the coil superconducting characteristics leads to a restricted temperature control band, around 1.9 K. An absolute accuracy DeltaT < 10 mK below 2.2 K, and DeltaT < 5 K above 25 K, is necessary. For resistive thermometers covering the full temperature range, and having a negative dR/dT sensitivity, this is typically equivalent to a relative accuracy DeltaR/R of 3 10**-3 over 3 resistance decades. Also, to limit the thermometer's self-heating, the sensing current must be limited to few muA. Furthermore, the radiation levels next to the accelerator are expected to degrade significantly the performance of conventional analogue electronics. As these stringent requirements are not met by commercial conditioners, three different architectures have been developed at CERN. The first compresses the input dynamic range using a logarithmic transfer function; the second partitions the input range into three linear regions; the third converts resistance linearly into the frequency of a square wave. They fulfil the above specifications and provide industrial robustness in terms of thermal drift, galvanic protection, and compact packaging, while optimising cost-to-performance ratio. This paper describes the principles of their design, compares their characteristics and shows results of field tests. Future developmens include ASIC versions, Fieldbus interfacing, and radiation tolerant re-design. Castoldi, M Pangallo, M Parma, Vittorio Vandoni, Giovanna 1999 1999 The LHC collider will be composed of approximately 1700 main ring superconducting magnets cooled to 1.9 K in pressurised superfluid helium and supported within their cryostats on low heat in-leak column-type supports. The precise positioning of the heavy magnets and the stringent thermal budgets imposed by the machine cryogenic system, require a sound thermo-mechanical design of the support system. Each support is composed of a main tubular thin-walled structure in glass-fibre reinforced epoxy resin, with its top part interfaced to the magnet at 1.9 K and its bottom part mounted onto the cryostat vacuum vessel at 293 K. In order to reduce the conduction heat in-leak at 1.9 K, each support mounts two heat intercepts at intermediate locations on the column, both actively cooled by cryogenic lines carrying helium gas at 4.5-10 K and 50-65 K. The need to assess the thermal performance of the supports has lead to setting up a dedicated test set-up for precision heat load measurements on prototype supports. This paper presents the thermal design of the support system of the LHC arc magnets. The results of the thermal tests of a prototype support made in industry are illustrated and discussed. A mathematical model has been set up and refined by the comparison with test results, with the scope of extrapolating the observed thermal performance to different geometrical and material parameters. Finally, the calculated estimate of the heat load budgets of the support system and their contribution to the total cryogenic budget for an LHC arc are presented. Amand, J F Bager, T Casas-Cubillos, J Thermeau, J P 1999 1999 The superconducting magnets of the future Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN will operate in pressurised superfluid helium (1 bar, 1.9 K). About 500 pressure transducers will be placed in the liquid helium bath for monitoring the filling and the pressure transients after resistive transitions. Their precision must remain better than 100 mbar at pressures below 2 bar and better than 5% for higher pressures (up to 20 bar), with temperatures ranging from 1.8 K to 300 K. All the tested transducers are based on the same principle: the fluid or gas is separated from a sealed reference vacuum by an elastic membrane; its deformation indicates the pressure. The transducers will be exposed to high neutron fluence (2 kGy, 1014 n/cm2 per year) during the 20 years of machine operation. This irradiation may induce changes both on the membranes characteristics (leakage, modification of elasticity) and on gauges which measure their deformations. To investigate these effects and select the transducer to be used in the LHC, a neutron irradiation program is being performed at the CERI cyclotron (CNRS Orléans, France): a cryostat is installed on a beam line, transducers are immersed in liquid helium and irradiated by neutrons (1-20 MeV, 1015 n/cm2). The tested transducers measure the helium bath pressure, the true value of which is given by a warm, unirradiated sensor. Every readout is acquired on-line. This paper presents the results of the first experiments performed during spring, 1999. Claudet, S Gayet, P Wagner, U 1999 1999 The cooling capacity for the superconducting magnets in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, CERN will be provided by eight helium refrigerators serving the eight 3.3 km long machine sectors. Of these eight refrigerators, four are already existing and are currently used for the Large Electron Positron Collider (LEP) project. These existing refrigerators have to be modified to serve the requirements for the LHC. Four new refrigerators providing cooling capacity down to 4.5 K will be added. All eight 4.5 K refrigerators will be completed by 1.8 K cooling stages. This presentation recalls the cryogenic architecture of the LHC, the constraints in process design resulting from it and from the desired capacity for steady state and transient operation. It then describes how these requirements were expressed in the technical specification for the four new 4.5 K refrigerators to be delivered between the years 2000 and 2002. Ostojic, R Plate, S R Van Weelderen, R Willen, E H Wu, K C 1999 1999 Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) will provide four types of magnets, identified as D1, D2, D3 and D4, for the Insertion Regions of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) as part of an international collaboration. These magnets utilize the dipole coil design of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at BNL, for performance, reliability and cost reasons. The magnet cold mass and cryostat have been designed to ensure that these magnets meet all performance requirements in the LHC sloped tunnel using its cryogenic distribution system. D1 is a RHIC arc dipole magnet. D2 and D4 are 2-in-1 magnets, two coils in one cold mass, in a cryostat. D3 is a 1-in-1 magnet, one coil in one cold mass, with two cold masses side by side in a cryostat. D1 and D4 will be cooled by helium II at 1.9 K using a bayonet heat exchanger similar to the main cooling system of LHC. D2 and D3 will be cooled by liquid helium at 4.5 K using a Two-Feed scheme. A detailed description of the cooling scheme for these magnets, their cryostats, special features and interfaces with the LHC distribution system is given. Camacho, D Chevassus, S Ferlin, G Pangallo, M Policella, C Rieubland, Jean Michel Simon, L Vandoni, Giovanna 1999 1999 The refrigeration and liquefaction capacity necessary to operate at 1.9 K the 27 km long string of superconducting magnets of the LHC has been determined on the basis of heat load estimates, including static heat inleaks from ambient temperature, resistive heating and dynamic beam-induced heat loads. At all temperature levels, the static heat inleaks determine at least one third of the total heat loads in nominal operating conditions of the machine. Design validation of individual cryocomponents therefore requires a correct estimate of the heat inleaks they induce at all temperature levels, in order not to exceed the allocated heat budget. This paper illustrates the measurements of heat inleaks for several cold components of the future machine, including insulating supports, radiation shields, multi-layer insulation, instrumentation current leads. Distinct methods to determine the heat flow are chosen, depending on the expected heat loads, the temperature range spanned by the heat intercepts, and the working conditions of the component itself. Rousset, B Gauthier, A Jäger, B Van Weelderen, R 1999 1999 In the line of previous work done at CEA Grenoble, large size experiments were performed with the support of CERN for the validation of the LHC two phase superfluid helium cooling scheme. In order to be as close as possible to the real configuration, a straight, inclinable 22 m long line of 40 mm I.D. was built. Very accurate measurements of temperatures and pressures obtained after in situ re-calibration and verified by independent sensors allowed us to validate our two-phase flow model. Although we focus on pressure losses and heat exchange results in relation to power injected, additional measurements such as quality, void fraction, and total mass flow rate enable a complete description of the two-phase flow. Experiments were carried out to cover the whole range of the future LHC He II two-phase flow heat exchanger pipe: slope between 0 and 2.8 %, temperature between 1.8 and 2 K, total mass flow rate up to 7.5 g/s. Results confirm the validity of choice for the LHC cooling scheme. Bangert, N Gayet, P 1999 1999 In 1998 the first energy upgrade of the LEP Electron/Positron collider, LEP2, was completed at CERN. Sixty-eight superconducting modules supplied by four 12 kW @ 4.5 K equivalent power refrigerators have been operated allowing a colliding beam energy of 94.5 GeV. Meanwhile, the operation and maintenance responsibilities were transferred to an industrial firm on the basis of a result-oriented contract. After a short description of the operational organization, we report on the operation of the LEP2 cryogenic system over the past three years. Particular attention is given to power availability, failure statistics and recovery time after interruptions. The most relevant problems and their solutions are exposed. Finally, we review the interactions between the cryogenic system and the particle beams, which are limiting the ultimate performance of the LEP collider. Erdt, W K Riddone, G Trant, R 1999 1999 The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) currently under construction at CERN will make use of superconducting magnets operating in superfluid helium below 2 K. The cryogenic distribution scheme for each of the eight sectors, individually served by a refrigeration plant, is based on a separate Cryogenic Distribution Line (QRL) feeding helium at different temperatures and pressures to the elementary cooling loops. The QRL comprises two supply headers and three return headers including a sub-atmospheric one. Low heat inleak to all temperature levels is essential for the overall LHC cryogenic performance. With an overall length of 25.6 km the QRL has a very critical cost-to-performance ratio. Therefore, following an in-house feasibility study, CERN adjudicated in autumn 1998 three industrial contracts in parallel for the supply of Pre-Series Test Cells (~ 112 m) of the QRL, which will be tested at CERN in 2000. Installation of the QRL for LHC is scheduled from 2002 to mid 2004. This paper will present the general layout, the functional requirements as well as some aspects of the in-house conceptual design. Chorowski, M 1999 1999 A cryogenic jet is a phenomenon encountered in different fields like some technological processes and cryosurgery. It may also be a result of cryogenic equipment rupture or a cryogen discharge from the cryostats following resistive transition in superconducting magnets. Heat exchange between a cold jet and a warm steel element (e.g. a buffer tank wall or a transfer line vacuum vessel wall) may result in an excessive localisation of thermal strains and stresses. The objective of the analysis is to get a combined (analytical and experimental) one-dimensional model of a cryogenic jet that will enable estimation of heat transfer intensity between the jet and steel plate with a suitable accuracy for engineering applications. The jet diameter can only be determined experimentally. The mean velocity profile can be calculated from the fact that the total flux of momentum along the jet axis is conserved. The proposed model allows deriving the jet crown area with respect to the distance from the vent and the mean velocity profile along the jet axis. A simple formula to assess convective heat exchange between the jet and a solid obstacle has been proposed and experimentally verified. Chorowski, M Lebrun, P Riddone, G 1999 1999 The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), presently under construction at CERN, will require a helium cryogenic system unprecedented in size and capacity, with more than 1600 superconducting magnets operating in superfluid helium and a total inventory of almost 100 tonnes of helium. The objective of the Preliminary Risk Analysis (PRA) is to identify all risks to personnel, equipment or environment resulting from failures that may accidentally occur within the cryogenic system of LHC in any phase of the machine operation, and that could not be eliminated by design. Assigning a gravity coefficient and one analyzing physical processes that will follow any of the recognised failure modes allows to single out worst case scenarios. Recommendations concerning lines of preventive and corrective defence, as well as for further detailed studies, are formulated. Hatchadourian, E 1999 1999 The circulating particle beams of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will induce dynamic heat loads into the cryogenic system. Beam screens, maintained at a temperature between 5 K and 20 K by weakly supercritical helium -in order to avoid-two phase flow- are inserted inside the magnet cold bore to intercept most of these heat loads. Evidence has been presented in experimental and theoretical work that the main type of dynamic instability in long channels is that caused by the propagation of density waves due to multiple regenerative feedback. Oscillations are typically observed in circuits operating with low flow rate and/or high energy input. The study of the system behaviour under different operating cases permits assessment of the time constant of the system as well as its temperature-control parameters. A part of this work also concerns the study of flow stability in the other LHC cryogenic circuits working with supercritical helium. Blanco-Viñuela, E Casas-Cubillos, J De Prada-Moraga, C 1999 1999 The LHC accelerator will employ 1800 superconducting magnets (for guidance and focusing of the particle beams) in a pressurized superfluid helium bath at 1.9 K. This temperature is a severely constrained control parameter in order to avoid the transition from the superconducting to the normal state. Cryogenic processes are difficult to regulate due to their highly non-linear physical parameters (heat capacity, thermal conductance, etc.) and undesirable peculiarities like non self-regulating process, inverse response and variable dead time. To reduce the requirements on either temperature sensor or cryogenic system performance, various control strategies have been investigated on a reduced-scale LHC prototype built at CERN (String Test). Model Based Predictive Control (MBPC) is a regulation algorithm based on the explicit use of a process model to forecast the plant output over a certain prediction horizon. This predicted controlled variable is used in an on-line optimization procedure that minimizes an appropriate cost function to determine the manipulated variable. One of the main characteristics of the MBPC is that it can easily incorporate process constraints; therefore the regulation band amplitude can be substantially reduced and optimally placed. An MBPC controller has completed a run where performance and robustness has been compared against a standard PI controller (Proportional and Integral). Balle, C Casas-Cubillos, J Rieubland, Jean Michel Suraci, A Togny, F Vauthier, N 1999 1999 The stringent requirements on temperature control of the superconducting magnets for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), impose that the cryogenic temperature sensors meet compelling demands such as long-term stability, radiation hardness, readout accuracy better than 5 mK at 1.8 K and compatibility with industrial control equipment. This paper presents the results concerning long-term stability of resistance temperature sensors submitted to cryogenic thermal cycles. For this task a simple test facility has been designed, constructed and put into operation for cycling simultaneously 115 cryogenic thermometers between 300 K and 4.2 K. A thermal cycle is set to last 71/4 hours: 3 hours for either cooling down or warming up the sensors and 1 respectively 1/4 hour at steady temperature conditions at each end of the temperature cycle. A Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) drives automatically this operation by reading 2 thermometers and actuating on 3 valves and 1 heater. The first thermal cycle was accomplished in a temperature calibration facility and all the thermometers were recalibrated again after 10, 25 and 50 cycles. Care is taken in order not to expose the sensing elements to moisture that can reputedly affect the performance of some of the sensors under investigation. The temperature sensors included Allen-Bradley and TVO carbon resistors, Cernox, thin-film germanium, thin-film and wire-wound Rh-Fe sensors. Ballarino, A Bézaguet, Alain-Arthur Gomes, P Métral, L Serio, L Suraci, A 1999 1999 The LHC will be equipped with about 8000 superconducting magnets of all types. The total current to be transported into the cryogenic enclosure amounts to some 3360 kA. In order to reduce the heat load into the liquid helium, CERN intends to use High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) material for leads having current ratings up to 13 kA. The resistive part of the leads is cooled by forced flow of gaseous helium between 20 K and 300 K. The HTS part of the lead is immersed in a 4.5 K liquid helium bath, operates in self cooling conditions and is hydraulically separated from the resistive part. A cryogenic test station has been designed and built in order to assess the thermal and electrical performances of 13 kA prototype current leads. We report on the design, commissioning and operation of the cryogenic test station and illustrate its performance by typical test results of HTS current leads. Bézaguet, Alain-Arthur Dufay, L Ferlin, G Losserand-Madoux, R Perin, A Vandoni, Giovanna Van Weelderen, R 1999 1999 The superconducting magnets of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be protected by safety relief valves operating at 1.9 K in superfluid helium (HeII). A test facility was developed to precisely determine the heat load and the mass leakage of cryogenic valves with HeII at their inlet. The temperature of the valve inlet can be varied from 1.8 K to 2 K for pressures up to 3.5 bar. The valve outlet pipe temperature can be regulated between 5 K and 20 K. The heat flow is measured with high precision using a Kapitza-resistance heatmeter and is also crosschecked by a vaporization measurement. After calibration, a precision of 10 mW for heat flows up to 1.1 W has been achieved. The helium leak can be measured up to 15 mg/s with an accuracy of 0.2 mg/s. We present a detailed description of the test facility and the measurements showing its performances. Dufay, L Perin, A Van Weelderen, R 1999 1999 The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN will use high field superconducting magnets operating in pressurized superfluid helium (He II) at 1.9 K. Cold safety valves, with their inlet in direct contact with the He II bath, will be required to protect the cold masses in case of a magnet resistive transition. In addition to the safety function, the valves must limit their conduction heat load to the He II to below 0.3 W and limit their mass leakage when closed to below 0.01 g/s at 1.9 K with 100 mbar differential pressure. The valves must also have a high tolerance to contaminating particles in the liquid helium. The compliance with the specified performance is of crucial importance for the LHC cryogenic operation. An extensive test program is therefore being carried out on prototype industrial valves produced by four different manufacturers. The behavior of these valves has been investigated at room temperature and at 77 K. Precise heat load and mass leak measurements have been performed on a dedicated test facility at superfluid helium temperature. Results of cold and warm tests performed on as-delivered valves are presented. Claudet, S Gayet, P Lebrun, P Tavian, L Wagner, U 1999 1999 Large projects based on applied superconductivity, such as particle accelerators, tokamaks or SMES, require powerful and complex helium cryogenic systems, the cost of which represents a significant, if not dominant fraction of the total capital and operational expenditure. It is therefore important to establish guidelines and scaling laws for costing such systems, based on synthetic estimators of their size and performance. Although such data has already been published for many years, the experience recently gathered at CERN with the LEP and LHC projects, which have de facto turned the laboratory into a major world cryogenic center, can be exploited to update this information and broaden the range of application of the scaling laws. We report on the economics of 4.5 K and 1.8 K refrigeration, cryogen distribution and storage systems, and indicate paths towards their cost-to-performance optimisation.