Design and Manufacture of the Superconducting Bus-bars for the LHC Main Magnets

The main magnets of the LHC are series-connected electrically in different powering circuits by means of superconducting bus-bars, carrying a maximum current of 13 kA. These superconducting bus-bars consist of a superconducting cable thermally and electrically coupled to a copper profile all along the length. The function of the copper profile is essentially to provide an alternative path for the current in case the superconducting cable loses its superconducting state and returns to normal state because of a transient disturbance or of a normal zone propagation coming from the neighbouring magnets. When a superconducting bus-bar quenches to normal state its temperature must always stay below a safe values of about 100°C while the copper is conducting. When a resistive transition is detected, the protection systems triggers the ramping down of the current from 13000 A to 0. The ramp rate must not exceed a maximum value to avoid the transition of magnets series-connected in the circuit. This paper concerns the design and the manufacture of the high current superconducting bus-bars needed to interconnect the magnetic elements of the main dipoles, the main quadrupoles of the arcs and of the dispersion suppressors of the LHC

Cryogenic and vacuum sectorisation of the LHC arcs

Following the recommendation of the LHC TC of June 20th, 1995 to introduce a separate cryogenic distribution line (QRL), which opened the possibility to have a finer cryogenic and vacuum sectorisation of the LHC machine than the original 8 arcs scheme, a working group was set up to study the implications: technical feasibility, advantages and drawbacks as well as cost of such a sectorisation (DG/DI/LE/dl, 26 July 1995). This report presents the conclusions of the Working Group. In the LHC Conceptual Design Report, ref. CERN/AC/95-05 (LHC), 20 October 1995, the so-called "Yellow Book", a complete cryostat arc (~ 2.9 km) would have to be warmed up in order to replace a defective cryomagnet. Even by coupling the two large refrigerators feeding adjacent arcs at even points to speed up the warm-up and cool down of one arc, the minimum down-time of the machine needed to replace a cryomagnet would be more than a full month (and even 52 days with only one cryoplant). Cryogenic and vacuum sectorisation of an arc into smaller sectors is technically feasible and would allow to reduce the down-times considerably (by one to three weeks with four sectors of 750 m in length, with respectively two or one cryoplants). In addition, sectorisation of the arcs may permit a more flexible quality control and commissioning of the main machine systems, including cold testing of small magnet strings. Sectorisation, described in detail in the following paragraphs, consists essentially of installing several additional cryogenic and vacuum valves as well as some insulation vacuum barriers. Additional cryogenic valves are needed in the return lines of the circuits feeding each half-cell in order to complete the isolation of the cryoline QRL from the machine, allowing intervention (i.e. venting to atmospheric pressure) on machine sectors without affecting the rest of an arc. Secondly, and for the same purpose, special vacuum and cryogenic valves must be installed, at the boundaries of machine sectors, for the circuits not passing through the cryoline QRL. Finally, some additional vacuum barriers must be installed around the magnet cold masses to divide the insulation vacuum of the magnet cryostats into independent sub-sectors, permitting to keep under insulating vacuum the cryogenically floating cold masses, while a sector (or part of it) is warmed up and opened to atmosphere. A reasonable scenario of sectorisation, namely with four 650-750 m long sectors per arc, and each consisting of 3 or 4 insulation vacuum sub-sectors with two to four half-cells, would represent an additional total cost of about 6.6 MCHF for the machine. It is estimated that this capital investment would be paid off by time savings in less than three long unscheduled interventions such as the change of a cryomagnet

Manufacturing features and performances of long models and first prototype for the LHC project

This paper reports about the 10-m-long models and one 15-m-long prototype. Their main design features are a 5-block coil cross section, an intra-beam distance of 194 mm at room temperature and a 15-mm-wide superconducting cable. The collared coil of the 10-m-long models were built in Industry and the assembly of the magnetic circuit and cold mass was done at CERN while the 15-m-long prototype was entirely made in Industry. Manufacturing features, assembly steps and quench performances of each magnet are presented. Results of magnetic measurements taken in the course of magnet assembly, during and after the cold test campaigns are also given

Variation in mechanical properties of selected young poplar hybrid crosses

To better understand the variability in mechanical properties caused by genetic differences in hybrid poplars, modulus of elasticity and modulus of rupture in static bending were examined at two 10-year-old clonal trials located at Windsor and St-Ours, southern Quebec, Canada. The materials consisted of three hybrids, Populus deltoides x Populus nigra, Populus trichocarpa x P. deltoides, Populus maximowiczii x Populus balsamifera, and native P. deltoides. Significant differences were observed in mechanical properties among hybrids and P. deltoides. The effects of growth on the mechanical properties were inconsistent and varied considerably by site and by hybrid. Results indicated no uniform trends relating growth rate to either higher or lower modulus of elasticity/modulus of rupture. It appears that selection for strength properties may not uniformly lead to decreased growth production, especially for P. trichocarpa x P. deltoides and P. maximowiczii x P. balsamifera. Copyright © 2008 by the Society of American Foresters

The high current bus-bars of the LHC from conception to manufacture

The main magnets of the LHC are series-connected electrically in different excitation circuits by means of superconducting bus-bars, carrying a maximum current of 13 kA. These superconducting bus-bars consist of a superconducting cable thermally and electrically coupled to a copper section all along length. The function of the copper section is essentially to provide an alternative path for the magnet current in case the superconducting cable loses its superconductivity and returns to normal state because of a transient system disturbance or normal zone propagation coming from the neighboring magnets. When a superconducting bus-bar quenches to normal state its temperature must always stay below a safe values of about 100 ° C while the copper is conducting. With regard to that, a quench signal is initiated, which in turn triggers the ramping down of the current from 13000 A to 0. The ramping down rate must not exceed a maximum value to avoid the transition of still superconducting state magnets series-connected with the quenched ones. This paper concerns the design and the manufacture of the high current superconducting bus-bars needed to interconnect the magnetic elements of the main dipoles of the LHC