Cryostat Design

This paper aims to give non-expert engineers and scientists working in the domain of accelerators a general introduction to the main disciplines and technologies involved in the design and construction of accelerator cryostats. Far from being an exhaustive coverage of these topics, an attempt is made to provide simple design and calculation rules for a preliminary design of cryostats. Recurrent reference is made to the Large Hadron Collider magnet cryostats, as most of the material presented is taken from their design and construction at CERN.Comment: 47 pages, contribution to the CAS-CERN Accelerator School: Superconductivity for Accelerators, Erice, Italy, 24 April - 4 May 2013, edited by R. Baile

Calculation of Helium Inventory in LHC Arcs from Geometry and Comparison with Observations

This report estimates the helium inventory inside the 1.9K cryogenic circuit of the LHC arcs. The assessment is based on geometrical considerations obtained from the construction files of the cold masses and its result is compared with test results and the specified design value

Performance of the LHC magnet system

The LHC magnet system, essentially composed of superconducting magnets operating at 1.9 K, has been largely commissioned in 2007-08. Before the serious incident of 19th September 2008, the magnet system was commissioned up to 7 kA (4 TeV proton beam energy); six (out of eight) sectors were commissioned up to 5.5 TeV and one up to 6.6 TeV. For more than one week, both beams have been injected, circulated and captured in the RF bucket, thus assessing the optics at injection energy. The incident in sector 3-4, originated by a serious defect of a high-current joint between magnets with large collateral damage, has changed the plans: 53 magnets in the damaged zone have been substituted or repaired meanwhile a campaign of consolidation is under way to allow safe restart of the accelerator in fall 2009. All these points and other issues presented and discussed, with emphasis on the incident in sector 3-4

Assessment of Static Heat Loads in the LHC Arc, from the Commissioning of Sector 7-8

This note presents first estimates of the static heat loads in the LHC arc cryostats, evaluated experimentally during the commissioning of sector 7-8 in April 2007. Heat loads to the thermal shielding are estimated from the non-isothermal cooling of the supercritical helium in line E, while heat loads to the 1.9K level of the cold masses are estimated from the internal energy balance during a natural warm-up of the sector in the absence of active cooling. A comparison of the measured heat loads with the budgeted heat loads is then presented and discussed

Series-produced Helium II Cryostats for the LHC Magnets: Technical Choices, Industrialisation, Costs

Assembled in 8 continuous segments of approximately 2.7 km length each, the He II cryostats for the 1232 cryodipoles and 474 Short Straight Sections (SSS housing the quadrupoles) must fulfil tight technical requirements. They have been produced by industry in large series according to cost-effective industrial production methods to keep expenditure within the financial constraints of the project and assembled under contract at CERN. The specific technical requirements of the generic systems of the cryostat (vacuum, cryogenic, electrical distribution, magnet alignment) are briefly recalled, as well as the basic design choices leading to the definition of their components (vacuum vessels, thermal shielding, supporting systems). Early in the design process emphasis was placed on the feasibility of manufacturing techniques adequate for large series production of components, optimal tooling for time-effective assembly methods, and reliable quality assurance systems. An analytical review of the costs of the cryostats from component procurement to final assembly, tests and interconnection in the machine is presented and compared with initial estimates, together with an appraisal of the results and lessons learned

Static Heat Loads in the LHC Arc Cryostats: Final Assessment

This note presents the final assessment of the static heat loads in the LHC arc cryostats, using different experimental methods during the first commissioning period in 2007. This assessment further develops and completes previous estimates made during the commissioning of sector 7_8 [1]. The estimate of the helium inventory, a prerequisite for the heat load calculation, is also presented. Heat loads to the cold mass are evaluated from the internal energy balance during natural as well as powered warm-ups of the helium baths in different subsector. The helium inventory is calculated from the internal energy balance during powered warm-ups and matched with previous assessments. Furthermore, heat loads to the thermal shield are estimated from the non-isothermal cooling of the supercritical helium in line E. The comparison of measured heat loads with previous estimates and with budgeted values is then presented, while their correlation with some important parameters like insulation vacuum pressure and some heat interception temperatures is proposed and discussed

Task-irrelevant odours affect both response inhibition and response readiness in fast-paced Go/No-Go task: the case of valence

Whether emotional stimuli influence both response readiness and inhibition is highly controversial. Visual emotional stimuli appear to interfere with both under certain conditions (e.g., task relevance). Whether the effect is generalisable to salient yet task-irrelevant stimuli, such as odours, remains elusive. We tested the effect of orthonasally-presented pleasant (orange) and unpleasant odours (trimethyloxazole and hexenol) and clean air as a control on response inhibition. In emotional Go/ No-Go paradigms, we manipulated the intertrial interval and ratios of Go/No-Go trials to account for motor (Experiment 1, N = 31) and cognitive (Experiment 2, N = 29) response inhibition processes. In Experiment 1, participants had greater difficulty in withholding and produced more accurate and faster Go responses under the pleasant vs. the control condition. Faster Go responses were also evident in the unpleasant vs. the control condition. In Experiment 2, neither pleasant nor unpleasant odours modulated action withholding, but both elicited more accurate and faster Go responses as compared to the control condition. Pleasant odours significantly impair action withholding (as compared to the control condition), indicating that more inhibitory resources are required to elicit successful inhibition in the presence of positive emotional information. This modulation was revealed for the motor aspect of response inhibition (fast-paced design with lower Go/No-Go trial ratio) rather than for attentional interference processes. Response readiness is critically impacted by the emotional nature of the odour (but not by its valence). Our findings highlight that the valence of task-irrelevant odour stimuli is a factor significantly influencing response inhibition

El tiempo de Dios y el tiempo de los hombres: la apocalíptica antigua en el contexto medieval

La tradición apocalíptica, uno de los mayores legados de la Antigüedad a los tiempos medievales y modernos, presupone una consideración crítica del tiempo presente y busca su anulación y sustitución por un tiempo radicalmente nuevo. Así la visión escatológica determina la experiencia básica del tiempo humano y le otorga sentido a todos los esquemas de la historia; entre ellos, a las oposiciones amigo-enemigo, público-secreto, mando-obediencia. El objetivo de este artículo consiste en reflexionar sobre las formas diversas de apropiación medieval de estas representaciones escatológicas que tuvieron por contexto de producción el mundo antiguo. Se trata de pensar las distintas resignificaciones de este sustrato cultural antiguo en el contexto medieval y bajomedieval, contextos que delimitan usos diversos y contradictorios de las mismas ideas acerca del fin de los tiempos. La consideración de estos usos diversos en la etapa reafirma las características ambivalentes del relato apocalíptico, pero también se transforman en un síntoma de la importancia que estas ideas tuvieron en la construcción de las ideologías en favor o en contra del sistema vigente.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

The Assembly of the LHC Short Straight Sections at CERN: Work Organization, Quality Assurance and Lessons Learned

After 4 years of activity, the assembly of approximately 500 Short Straight Sections (SSS) for the LHC has come to an end at the beginning of 2007. This activity, which was initially foreseen in European industry, was in-sourced at CERN because of the insolvency of the prime contractor. While the quadrupole cold masses were produced in industry, the assembly within their cryostats was transferred to CERN and executed by an external company under a result-oriented contract. CERN procured cryostat components, set up a dedicated 2000 m2 assembly hall with all the specific assembly equipment and tooling and defined the assembly and testing procedures. The contractor took up responsibility for the delivery, on time, of assemblies according to the required quality. A dedicated CERN production and quality assurance team was constituted. A specific quality assurance plan was set up involving 2 additional contractors responsible for weld inspections on a total of about 20'000 assembly welds and the execution of about 3300 leak detection tests. This paper presents the organizational aspects of the activity and the experience gained throughout the production. The learning curves and statistics by type of non-conformities detected and general quality assurance aspects are presented and discussed. The main lessons learnt are summarized, in an attempt to draw some conclusions which could be useful in making strategic choices for the cryostat assembly in future large-scale accelerators