O. Pirotte

Ultimate Performance of the ATLAS Superconducting Solenoid

A 2 tesla, 7730 ampere, 39 MJ, 45 mm thin superconducting solenoid with a 2.3 meters warm bore and 5.3 meters length, is installed in the center of the ATLAS detector and successfully commissioned. The solenoid shares its cryostat with one of the detectors calorimeters and provides the magnetic field required for the inner detectors to accurately track collision products from the LHC at CERN. After several years of a stepwise construction and test program, the solenoid integration 100 meters underground in the ATLAS cavern is completed. Following the on-surface acceptance test, the solenoid is now operated with its final cryogenic, powering and control system. A re-validation of all essential operating parameters is completed. The performance and test results of underground operation are reported and compared to those previously measured.

Superconducting instrumentation for high Reynolds turbulence experiments with low temperature gaseous helium

Turbulence is of common experience and of high interest for industrial applications, despite its physical grounds is still not understood. Cryogenic gaseous helium gives access to extremely high Reynolds numbers (Re). We describe an instrumentation hosted in CERN, which provides a 6 kW @ 4.5 K helium refrigerator directly connected to the experiment. The flow is a round jet; the flow rates range from 20 g/s up to 260 g/s at 4.8 K and about 1.2 bar, giving access to the highest controlled Re flow ever developed. The experimental challenge lies in the range of scales which have to be investigated: from the smallest viscous scale η, typically 1 μm at Re=107 to the largest L∼10 cm. The corresponding frequencies: f=v/η can be as large as 1 MHz. The development of an original micrometric superconducting anemometer using a hot spot and its characteristics will be discussed together with its operation and the perspectives associated with superconducting anemometry.

ATLAS superconducting solenoid on-surface test

The ATLAS detector is presently under construction as one of the five LHC experiment set-ups. It relies on a sophisticated magnet system for the momentum measurement of charged particle tracks. The superconducting solenoid is at the center of the detector, the magnet system part nearest to the proton-proton collision point. It is designed for a 2 Tesla strong axial magnetic field at the collision point, while its thin-walled construction of 0.66 radiation lengths avoids degradation of energy measurements in the outer calorimeters. The solenoid and calorimeter have been integrated in their common cryostat, cooled down and tested on-surface. We review the on-surface set-up and report the performance test results.

Results of the Cryogenic Tests of the Superconducting Magnets forming the Barrel Toroid of the ATLAS Experiment

The Barrel Toroid magnet of the ATLAS experiment will be built from eight 25 m × 5 m racetrack shaped superconducting coils that are symmetrically placed around the central axis of the detector. Prior to their final assembly in the underground cavern of the LHC, these magnets are individually tested at ground level in order to verify the expected overall performances. A dedicated facility has been commissioned and the testing of the coils, at their nominal electrical and thermal operating conditions, has been carried out. The paper presents the results obtained during the cool‐down phase from ambient temperature, the steady‐state operation at 4.5 K, the 20 kA current ramping up/down and the thermal recovery after a fast energy dump of up to 138 MJ stored energy. Included are the measurements of the various thermal loads in both static and dynamic conditions.

First Cool-Down and Test at 4.5 K of the ATLAS Superconducting Barrel Toroid Assembled in the LHC Experimental Cavern

The large ATLAS superconducting magnets system consists of the Barrel, two End-Caps Toroids and the Central Solenoid. The eight separate coils making the Barrel Toroid (BT) have been individually tested with success in a dedicated surface test facility in 2004 and 2005 and afterwards assembled in the underground cavern of the ATLAS experiment. In order to fulfill all the cryogenic scenarios foreseen for these magnets with a cold mass of 370 tons, two separate helium refrigerators and a complex helium distribution system have been used. This paper describes the results of the first cool-down, steady-state operation at 4.5 K and quench recovery of the BT in its final configuration.

Commissioning of the Cryogenic System for the ATLAS Superconducting Magnets

The paper describes the test results of the helium cryoplant for the superconducting magnets of the ATLAS particle detector at CERN. It consists of two refrigerators used in common by all the magnets and of two proximity cryogenic systems (PCS) interfacing respectively the toroids and the central solenoid. Emphasis is given to the commissioning of the refrigerators: the main unit of 6 kW equivalent capacity at 4.5 K and the thermal shield refrigerator providing 20 kW between 40 K and 80 K. The first unit is used for refrigeration at 4.5 K and for the cooling of three sets of 20 kA current leads, while the second one provides, in addition to the 20 kW refrigeration of the thermal shields, 60 kW for the cool‐down to 100 K of the 660 ton cold mass of the magnets. The tests, carried out with the equipment in the final underground configuration, are extended to the PCS that includes the large liquid helium centrifugal pumps (each providing 1.2 kg/s) for forced‐flow cooling of the magnets and the complex distri...

FINAL TESTING OF THE ATLAS CENTRAL SOLENOID BEFORE INSTALLATION

The central solenoid is part of the superconducting magnet system of the ATLAS experiment at the CERN LHC collider. It provides a 2 tesla axial magnetic field for the inner 24 m 3 volume centre particle tracker. Design and construction was done in Japan by KEK and Toshiba in collaboration with CERN. Factory tests were made in Japan with the proximity cryogenics in a geometrical arrangement corresponding to the final installation and, a full magnet test. After shipment to CERN the proximity cryogenics has been installed at a surface hall and recommissioning with load simulations and the instrumentation adapted for radiation hard requirements at the final underground area. The solenoid has recently been integrated in the common cryostat vessel of the liquid argon barrel. Cool down for final surface testing has started. The final control systems architecture and process logics are applied which is tested.

On-surface integration and test of the ATLAS central solenoid and its proximity cryogenics

The ATLAS detector for the LHC at CERN requires a superconducting solenoid, which provides the magnetic field for the inner detector. The ATLAS central solenoid and its associated proximity cryogenics system has been designed by KEK in collaboration with CERN. Following construction and preliminary tests at Toshiba in Japan the equipment has been shipped to CERN. The system is being prepared for the integration in the common cryostat with the LAr calorimeter, whereafter a full on-surface test has to be completed before its final installation 100 m underground in the ATLAS cavern. For this purpose a provisional set-up for commissioning of the final proximity cryogenics, the connecting chimney and the solenoid has been established. A number of tests and simulations have been conducted in applying a new process control system to validate the cryogenics functionalities, the electrical powering scheme as well as the magnet control and safety systems. The present status of the solenoid project and the results of the various cryogenic and electrical tests are reported.

Cryogenic Characteristics of the ATLAS Barrel Toroid Superconducting Magnet

ATLAS, one of the experiments of the LHC accelerator under commissioning at CERN, is equipped with a large superconducting magnet the Barrel Toroid (BT) that has been tested at nominal current (20500 A). The BT is composed of eight race-track superconducting coils (each one weights about 45 tons) forming the biggest air core toroidal magnet ever built. By means of a large throughput centrifugal pump, a forced flow (about 10 liter/second at 4.5 K) provides the indirect cooling of the coils in parallel. The paper describes the results of the measurements carried out on the complete cryogenic system assembled in the ATLAS cavern situated 100 m below the ground level. The measurements include, among other ones, the static heat loads, i.e., with no or constant current in the magnet, and the dynamic ones, since additional heat losses are produced, during the current ramp-up or slow dump, by eddy currents induced on the coil casing.

The Common Cryogenic Test Facility for the ATLAS Barrel and End‐Cap Toroid Magnets

The large ATLAS toroidal superconducting magnet made of the Barrel and two End‐Caps needs extensive testing at the surface of the individual components prior to their final assembly into the underground cavern of LHC. A cryogenic test facility specifically designed for cooling sequentially the eight coils making the Barrel Toroid (BT) has been fully commissioned and is now ready for final acceptance of these magnets. This facility, originally designed for testing individually the 46 tons BT coils, will be upgraded to allow the acceptance tests of the two End‐Caps, each of them having a 160 tons cold mass. The integrated system mainly comprises a 1.2 kW@4.5 K refrigerator, a 10 kW liquid‐nitrogen precooler, two cryostats housing liquid helium centrifugal pumps of respectively 80 g/s and 600 g/s nominal flow and specific instrumentation to measure the thermal performances of the magnets. This paper describes the overall facility with particular emphasis to the cryogenic features adopted to match the specifi...