Jean-Philippe Tock

Production and Quality Assurance of Main Busbar Interconnection Splices During the LHC 2008–2009 Shutdown

The main busbar interconnection splices of the Large Hadron Collider are assembled by inductive soldering of the Rutherford type cables and the copper profiles of the stabilizer. Following the September 2008 incident, the assembly process and the quality assurance have been improved, with new measurement and diagnostics methods introduced. In the 2008-2009 shutdown the resistance both in the superconducting and in the normal conducting states have been the focus for improvements. The introduction of gamma radiography has allowed the visualization of voids between cable and stabilizer. It is now known that during the standard soldering heating cycle solder is lost from the busbar extremities adjacent to the splice profiles, leaving parts of the cable in poor contact with the stabilizer. A room temperature resistance measurement has been introduced as a simple, non-destructive test to measure the electrical continuity of the splice in its normal conducting state. An ultrasonic test has been performed systematically in order to verify if the vertical gaps between the splice profiles are filled with Sn96Ag4 solder. Visual inspections of the different splice components before and after interconnection have been reinforced. The additional information gained has allowed targeted improvements in the splice production process. Ad-hoc machining of splice components avoids macroscopic gaps, additional soldering foil and copper shims are used in critical areas in order to improve the cable to stabilizer contact.

Consolidation of the 13 kA Interconnects in the LHC for Operation at 7 TeV

The accident in the LHC in September 2008 occurred in an interconnection between two magnets of the 13 kA dipole circuit. Successive measurements of the resistance of other interconnects revealed other defective joints, even though the SC cables were properly connected. These defective joints are characterized by a poor bonding between the SC cable and the copper stabilizer in combination with an electrical discontinuity in the copper stabilizer. A quench at the 7-13 kA level in such a joint can lead to a fast and unprotected thermal run-away and hence opening of the circuit. It has therefore been decided to operate the LHC at a reduced and safe current of 6 kA corresponding to 3.5 TeV beam energy until all defective joints are repaired. A task force is reviewing the status of all electrical joints in the magnet circuits and preparing for the necessary repairs. The principle solution is to resolder the worst defective joints and, in addition, to apply an electrical shunt made of copper across all joints with sufficient cross-section to guarantee safe 12-13 kA operation at 7-7.5 TeV. In this paper the various actions that have lead to this solution are presented.

The Interconnections of the LHC Cryomagnets at CERN: Strategy Applied and First Results of the Industrialization Process

The final interconnections of the LHC superconducting magnets in the underground tunnel are performed by a contractor on a result-oriented basis. A consortium of firms was awarded the contract after competitive tendering based on a technical and commercial specification. The implementation of the specific technologies and tooling developed and qualified by CERN has required an important effort to transfer the know-how and implement the follow-up of the contractor. This paper summarizes the start-up phase and the difficulties encountered. The organization and management tools put in place during the ramping-up phase are presented. In addition to contractual adaptations of the workforce, several configuration changes to the workflows were necessary to reach production rates compatible with the overall schedule and with the different constraints: availability of magnets, co-activities with magnets transport and alignment, handling of non-conformities, etc. Also the QA procedures underwent many changes to reach the high level of quality mandatory to ensure the LHC performance. The specificities of this worksite are underlined and first figures of merit of the learning process are presented.

Final Design and Experimental Validation of the Thermal Performance of the LHC Lattice Cryostats

The recent commissioning and operation of the LHC String 2 have given a first experimental validation of the global thermal performance of the LHC lattice cryostat at nominal cryogenic conditions. The cryostat designed to minimize the heat inleak from ambient temperature, houses under vacuum and thermally protects the cold mass, which contains the LHC twin‐aperture superconducting magnets operating at 1.9 K in superfluid helium. Mechanical components linking the cold mass to the vacuum vessel, such as support posts and insulation vacuum barriers are designed with efficient thermalisations for heat interception to minimise heat conduction. Heat inleak by radiation is reduced by employing multilayer insulation (MLI) wrapped around the cold mass and around an aluminium thermal shield cooled to about 60 K.Measurements of the total helium vaporization rate in String 2 gives, after substraction of supplementary heat loads and end effects, an estimate of the total thermal load to a standard LHC cell (107 m) incl...

Ultrasound diagnostics of the superconducting cable connections between the main ring magnets of LHC

As part of the LHC assembly program, the superconducting magnets are interconnected after installation. Electrical continuity between the magnets is ensured via a specifically designed cable junction box which allows the cables to be electrically joined by an automated low temperature soldering technique. The electrical resistance and mechanical strength of the cable junctions depend on the quality of the soldered joint. An ultrasound diagnostic of the soldered junction has been developed to accompany the visual inspection and reinforce the quality control process. Non-standard ultrasound diagnostic techniques, without using matching liquids or gel in the harsh and congested working environment, applied to the sandwich structure of the cable junction box, which presents high ultra-sonic losses due to multiple scattering, have been developed. The equipment and methods implemented are described in detail, together with results of quality control tests made in the production environment.

Assembly and quality control of the lhc cryostats at CERN: Motivations, means, results and lessons learnt

In 2001, the project management decided to perform at CERN the final assembly of the LHC superconducting magnets with cryostat parts and cold masses produced by European Industry in large series. This industrial-like production has required a very significant investment in tooling, production facilities, engineering and quality control efforts, in contractual partnership with a consortium of firms. This unusual endeavour of a limited lifetime represented more than 850,000 working hours spanning over five years, the work being done on a result-oriented basis by the contractor. This paper presents the reasons for having conducted this project at CERN, summarizes the work breakdown structure, the production means and methods, the infrastructure specially developed, the tooling, logistics and quality control aspects of the work performed and the results achieved, in analytical form. Finally, the lessons learnt are outlined.

submitter : Training Behavior of the Main Dipoles in the Large Hadron Collider

In 2015, the 1232 Nb-Ti dipole magnets in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have been commissioned to 7.8 T operational field, with 172 quenches. More than 80% of these quenches occurred in the magnets of one of the three cold mass assemblers (3000 series), confirming what was already observed in 2008. In this paper, the recent analysis carried out on the quench performance of the Large Hadron Collider dipole magnets is reported, including the individual reception tests and the 2008 and 2015 commissioning campaigns, to better understand the above-mentioned anomaly and give an outlook for future operation and possible increase of the operational field. The lower part of the quench probability spectrum is compatible with Gaussian distributions; therefore, the training curve can be fit through error functions. An essential ingredient in this analysis is the estimate of the error to be associated with the training data due to sampling of rare events, allowing to test different hypothesis. Using this approach, an estimate of the number of quenches required to reach 8.3 T (corresponding to the 7 TeV nominal energy) is given, and we propose to have two LHC sectors trained toward this target before the next warm up of the LHC.

Development of a New Insulation Approach for the LHC Main 13 kA Interconnection Splices

In the long LHC (Large Hadron Collider) shutdown in 2013 it is foreseen to intervene on all the 13 kA interconnections in order to guarantee the necessary margin and redundancy to provide safe LHC operation at 7 TeV per beam. This implies reinforcement of the present interconnection configuration including a new insulation scheme of the busbars. The purpose of the new insulation model is to provide dielectric insulation with at least the same performance as its predecessor currently installed in the LHC machine, but in addition to contain the Lorentz forces. This paper describes the analytic and empirical approach of development to reach a new insulation concept based on state of the art materials and manufacturing techniques.

A Statistical Analysis of Electrical Faults in the LHC Superconducting Magnets and Circuits

The large hadron collider (LHC) at CERN has been operating and generating physics experimental data since September 2008, and following its first long shut down, it has entered a second, 4-year-long physics run. It is to date the largest superconducting installation ever built, counting over 9000 magnets along its 27-km long circumference. A significant operational experience has been accumulated, including the occurrence and consequences of electrical faults at the level of the superconducting magnets, as well as their protection and instrumentation circuits. The purpose of this paper is to provide a first overview of the most common electrical faults and their frequency of occurrence in the first years of operation, and to perform a statistical analysis that can provide reference values for future productions of similar dimensions and nature.

submitter : Resistance of Splices in the LHC Main Superconducting Magnet Circuits at 1.9 K

The electrical interconnections between the LHC main magnets are made of soldered joints (splices) of two superconducting Rutherford cables, stabilized by a copper busbar. In 2009, a number of splices was found not properly stabilized and could have suffered a thermal runaway in case of quench at high current. The LHC was, therefore, operated at reduced energy and all joints were continuously monitored by a newly installed layer of the quench protection system. During the first long shutdown (LS1) in 2013/14, the high-current busbar joints were consolidated to allow us a safe operation of the LHC at its design energy, i.e., 14-TeV center-of-mass. The superconducting magnets and circuits consolidation project has coordinated the consolidation of the 10306 13-kA busbar splices. Since 2015, the LHC is successfully operated at an energy of 13-TeV center-of-mass. This paper will briefly describe the applied analysis method and will present the results and comparisons of the Rutherford-cable splice resistance measurements at 1.9 K before and after LS1, based on an unprecedented amount of information gathered during long-term operation of superconducting high-current joints. A few outliers that are still present after the splice consolidation will also be shortly discussed.