R. Pengo

On-Surface Test of the ATLAS Barrel Toroid Coils: Overview

The Barrel Toroid (BT) provides the magnetic field for the muon detectors in the ATLAS experiment at CERN. The Toroid is built up from eight superconducting coils. Each coil consists of two 25 m times 5 m racetrack shape double pancakes impregnated and pre-stressed inside an aluminum coil casing. The 42-tons cold mass is cooled by forced-flow liquid helium circulating in aluminum pipes glued to its surface. The coils are tested on surface prior to their underground installation. The test program has started in September 2004 and finished in June 2005. This paper describes the test set up and various commissioning tests performed at the ATLAS Magnet Test Facility. It includes the aspects of test preparation, vacuum pumping, leak testing, cooling down, powering and warming up. The 8 coils have passed the tests successfully and have been assembled into the Toroid in the ATLAS cavern. The testing completes the production of the so far largest racetrack coils in the world

On-Surface Tests of the ATLAS Barrel Toroid Coils: Acceptance Criteria and Results

Each superconducting coil of the ATLAS Barrel Toroid has to pass the commissioning tests on surface before the installation in the underground cavern for the ATLAS Experiment at CERN. Particular acceptance criteria have been developed to characterize the individual coils during the on-surface testing. Based on these criteria and the limited time of the test, a compressed test program was proposed and realized. In only a few cases some additional tests were required to justify the coil performance and acceptance. In this paper the analysis of the test results is presented and discussed with respect to the acceptance criteria. Some differences in the parameters found between the identical coils are analyzed in relation to coil production features

Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of the Ramp Losses in Conductor and Coil Casing of the ATLAS Barrel Toroid Coils

Each of the eight huge coils of the Barrel Toroid of the ATLAS detector consists of two double pancakes which are embedded in an aluminum alloy coil casing. The 57 mm times 12 mm sized conductor is a Rutherford cable with NbTi-Cu strands co-extruded with a high purity aluminum stabilizer. The race track coils have overall dimensions of 25 m times 5 m and the length of the conductor in the windings is 6.7 km. The coils are conduction cooled with forced flow helium. The nominal operating current is 20.5 kA and the nominal ramp rate is 4 A/s. During the test program of the individual coils the ramp losses are measured to confirm that they do not exceed the design cooling capacity of the ATLAS cryogenic system. The losses are determined from the amount of evaporated helium in the return flow. The ramp losses in the conductor consist of the hysteresis and coupling current losses in the Rutherford cable and eddy current loss in the pure aluminum stabilizer. Ohmic losses are generated in the coil casing which acts as a low resistive secondary of a transformer formed by the coil and the casing. In this paper the results of the loss measurements on the different coils, with different RRR (residual resistance ratio), are presented. Measurements are performed at various ramp rates. The results are in good agreement with the calculated losses, which are dominated by the loss in the coil casing

ATLAS End Cap Toroid Integration and Test

The ATLAS Experiment at LHC, CERN will utilize a large, superconducting, air-cored toroidal magnet system with a long Barrel Toroid and two end cap toroids. Each end cap toroid will contain eight racetrack coils mounted as a single cold mass in a cryostat vessel of approximately 10 m diameter and 5 m width. The toroids provide the magnetic field for the muon detectors. The operating current is 20.5 kA at 0.25 GJ stored energy and a peak field of 4.1 T in the windings. This paper presents the status of the End Cap Toroid Project. Cold mass assembly and the integration of the full cold mass, 120 tons, into the vacuum cryostat for the first toroid are described. The specialized techniques, procedures and tooling infrastructure required for these operations are explained. The pre-installation cooldown to 77 K at the ATLAS cryogenic test facility is reported and the toroid installation in the ATLAS Experiment 100 m underground in the ATLAS cavern will be reviewed.

ATLAS magnet common cryogenic, vacuum, electrical and control systems

The superconducting magnet system for the ATLAS detector at the LHC at CERN comprises a barrel toroid, two end cap toroids and a central solenoid with overall dimensions of 20 m diameter by 26 m length and a stored energy of 1.6 GJ. Common proximity cryogenic and electrical systems for the toroids are implemented. The cryogenic system provides the cooling power for the 3 toroid magnets considered as a single cold mass (600 tons) and for the CS. The 21 kA toroid and the 8 kA solenoid electrical circuits comprise both a switch-mode power supply, two circuit breakers, water cooled bus bars, He cooled current leads and the diode-resistor ramp-down unit. The vacuum system consists of a group of primary rotary pumps and sets of high vacuum diffusion pumps connected to each individual cryostat. The magnet safety system guarantees the magnet protection and human safety through slow and fast dump treatment. The magnet control system ensures control, regulation and monitoring of the operation of the magnets. The updated design, layout, development and construction of the systems, as well as the first results of prototyping and commissioning are presented.

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...

ATLAS End Cap Toroid Final Integration, Test and Installation

The ATLAS Experiment at LHC, CERN will utilize a large, superconducting, air-cored toroidal magnet system with a long Barrel Toroid and two End Cap Toroids. Each End Cap Toroid contains eight racetrack coils mounted as a single cold mass in a cryostat vessel of approximately 10 m diameter and 5 m length. The operating current is 20.5 kA at 0.25 GJ stored energy and a peak field of 4.1 T in the windings. This paper presents the status of the End Cap Toroid Project. Final integration of the two cold masses, 120 tons each, into their respective vacuum cryostats is described. The specialized techniques, procedures and tooling infrastructure required for these operations are explained. Pre-installation cooldown to 85 K is reported. Installation of the toroids in the ATLAS cavern 100 m underground will be described. The final interfacing to the Barrel Toroid and services in the cavern will be reviewed along with preparations for final test and commissioning.

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.