P. Fessia

Magnet Design of the 150 mm Aperture Low-

The high luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) project is aimed at studying and implementing the necessary changes in the LHC to increase its luminosity by a factor of five. Among the magnets that will be upgraded are the 16 superconducting low-β quadrupoles placed around the two high luminosity interaction regions (ATLAS and CMS experiments). In the current baseline scenario, these quadrupole magnets will have to generate a gradient of 140 T/m in a coil aperture of 150 mm. The resulting conductor peak field of more than 12 T will require the use of Nb3Sn superconducting coils. We present in this paper the HL-LHC low-β quadrupole design, based on the experience gathered by the US LARP program, and, in particular, we describe the support structure components to pre-load the coils, withstand the electro-magnetic forces, provide alignment and LHe containment, and integrate the cold mass in the LHC IRs.

\beta

Plans for LHC upgrade and for the final focalization of linear colliders call for large aperture and/or high-performance dipole and quadrupole magnets that may be beyond the reach of conventional NbTi magnet technology. The Next European Dipole (NED) activity was launched on January 1st, 2004 to promote the development of high-performance, Nb/sub 3/Sn wires in collaboration with European industry (aiming at a noncopper critical current density of 1500 A/mm/sup 2/ at 4.2 K and 15 T) and to assess the suitability of Nb/sub 3/Sn technology to the next generation of accelerator magnets (aiming at an aperture of 88 mm and a conductor peak field of 15 T). It is integrated within the Collaborated Accelerator Research in Europe (CARE) project, involves seven collaborators, and is partly funded by the European Union. We present here an overview of the NED activity and we report on the status of the various work packages it encompasses.

Quadrupoles for the High Luminosity LHC

The High Luminosity (HiLumi) Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project has, as the main objective, to increase the LHC peak luminosity by a factor five and the integrated luminosity by a factor ten. This goal will be achieved mainly with a new interaction region layout, which will allow a stronger focusing of the colliding beams. The target will be to reduce the beam size in the interaction points by a factor of two, which requires doubling the aperture of the low-β (or inner triplet) quadrupole magnets. The use of Nb3Sn superconducting material and, as a result, the possibility of operating at magnetic field levels in the windings higher than 11 T will limit the increase in length of these quadrupoles, called MQXF, to acceptable levels. After the initial design phase, where the key parameters were chosen and the magnets conceptual design finalized, the MQXF project, a joint effort between the U.S. LHC Accelerator Research Program and the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN), has now entered the construction and test phase of the short models. Concurrently, the preparation for the development of the full-length prototypes has been initiated. This paper will provide an overview of the project status, describing and reporting on the performance of the superconducting material, the lessons learnt during the fabrication of superconducting coils and support structure, and the fine tuning of the magnet design in view of the start of the prototyping phase.

Status of the Next European Dipole (NED) activity of the Collaborated Accelerator Research in Europe (CARE) project

The next generation of superconducting magnets for the interaction regions of particle colliders, as well as for fast cycled accelerators, will be confronted with large heat loads. In order to improve the evacuation of heat from the Nb-Ti coil towards He-II bath, a porous (enhanced) all-polyimide cable insulation scheme was proposed recently. The first results were promising, featuring a larger permeability to helium with respect to existing schemes under low compressive stress. In this paper we present an extended experimental study of heat transfer through the Enhanced Insulation into He-II bath, and comparison to the standard LHC insulation, at different levels of applied pressure. The thermal coupling between adjacent cables was investigated, as well as the impact of a localized heat deposition versus a distributed one. The results of this study show that, up to high pressure levels, the enhanced insulation scheme can provide a major improvement of heat transfer compared to the standard scheme used in the main LHC magnets.

Development of MQXF: The Nb 3 Sn Low-

The design and construction of a wide-aperture, superconducting quadrupole magnet for the LHC insertion region is part of a study towards a luminosity upgrade of the LHC at CERN. The engineering design of components and tooling, the procurement, and the construction work presented in this paper includes innovative features such as more porous cable insulation, a new collar structure allowing horizontal assembly with a hydraulic collaring press, tuning shims for the adjustment of field quality, a fishbone like structure for the ground-plane insulation, and an improved quench-heater design. Rapid prototyping of coil-end spacers and trial-coil winding led to improved shapes, thus avoiding the need to impregnate the ends with epoxy resin, which would block the circulation of helium. The magnet construction follows established procedures for the curing and assembly of the coils, in order to match the workflow established in CERNs “large magnet facility.” This requirement led to the design and procurement of a hydraulic press allowing for both a vertical and a horizontal position of the coil-collar pack, as well as a collapsible assembly mandrel, which guarantees the packs four-fold symmetry during collaring. The assembly process has been validated with the construction of two short models, instrumented with strain gauges and capacitive pressure transducers. This also determines the final parameters for coil curing and shim sizes.

\beta

The Short Model Coil (SMC) working group was set in February 2007 within the Next European Dipole (NED) program, in order to develop a short-scale model of a Nb3Sn dipole magnet. The SMC group comprises four laboratories: CERN/TE-MSC group (CH), CEA/IRFU (FR), RAL (UK) and LBNL (US). The SMC magnet was originally conceived to reach a peak field of about 13 T on conductor, using a 2500 A/mm Powder-In-Tube (PIT) strand. The aim of this magnet device is to study the degradation of the magnetic properties of the Nb3Sn cable, by applying different level of pre-stress. To fully satisfy this purpose, a versatile and easy-to-assemble structure has to be realized. The design of the SMC magnet has been developed from an existing dipole magnet, the SD01, designed, built and tested at LBNL with support from CEA. In this paper we will describe the mechanical optimization of the dipole, starting from a conceptual configuration based on a former magnetic analysis. Two and three-dimensional Finite Element Method (FEM) models have been implemented in ANSYS and in CAST3M, aiming at setting the mechanical parameters of the dipole magnet structure, thus fulfilling the design constraints imposed by the materials.

Quadrupole for the HiLumi LHC

This paper describes two methods used to study the effect of the tolerances of the components on the structure of the LHC main dipole. The first method, called semi-statistical, is useful for the determination of the acceptable variance of the dimensions of magnet components. The second one, fully statistical, allows the study of the combined effect of many parameters. The use of these two methods allowed to evaluate with good confidence the robustness of two different dipole cross-section designs, featuring austenitic and aluminium alloy collars, respectively.

Heat Transfer in an Enhanced Cable Insulation Scheme for the Superconducting Magnets of the LHC Luminosity Upgrade

The key objective of the superconducting high field magnet work package of the European Project EuCARD, and specifically of the high field model task, is to design and fabricate the Nb3Sn dipole magnet FRESCA2. With an aperture of 100 mm and a target bore field of 13 T, the magnet is aimed at upgrading the FRESCA cable test facility at CERN. The design features four 1.5-m-long double-layer coils wound with a 21-mm-wide cable. The windings are contained in a support structure based on a 65-mm-thick aluminum shell pretensioned with bladders. In order to qualify the assembly and loading procedure and to validate the finite element stress computations, the structure will be assembled around aluminum blocks, which replace the superconducting coils, and instrumented with strain gauges. In this paper, we report on the status of the assembly and we update on the progress on design and fabrication of tooling and coils.

Engineering Design and Manufacturing Challenges for a Wide-Aperture, Superconducting Quadrupole Magnet

As part of the European project EuCARD, the aim of the short model coil (SMC) dipole magnet is to perform R&D on the Nb3Sn coil fabrication technology while testing Nb3Sn superconducting cables. The baseline design features two double-layer racetrack coils, within a support structure based on bladders and keys technology and surrounded by an aluminum shell. The last magnet assembled up to now of the SMC series (SMC3a) was tested in 2011 and it reached a peak field of 12.5 T in the coil, corresponding to approximately 90 % of the short sample limit. Following the successful test of SMC3a, modifications were implemented in the design of the coil parts and support structure in order to accommodate wider cables. While making a valid contribution to the development of the Nb3Sn magnets technology, the final goal of the high field magnet project is to design, build, and test the FRESCA 2 magnet. Based on the SMC structure, the racetrack model coil represents an upgrade of the SMC in order to test a FRESCA 2 cable. The first part of this paper describes the status of activities on the SMC project, the design changes for the future SMC, and their predicted magnet parameters. The second part is dedicated to the description of the magnetic and mechanical design of the racetrack model coil.

Mechanical Design of the SMC (Short Model Coil) Dipole Magnet

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.