T. H. Nicol

Design and Analysis of the SSC Dipole Magnet Suspension System

The design of the suspension system for Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) dipole magnets has been driven by rigorous thermal and structural requirements. The current system, designed to meet those requirements, represents a significant departure from previous superconducting magnet suspension system designs. This paper will present a summary of the design and analysis of the vertical and lateral suspension as well as the axial anchor system employed in SSC dipole magnets.

Status of the LHC inner triplet quadrupole program at Fermilab

Fermilab, in collaboration with LBNL and BNL, is developing a quadrupole for installation in the interaction region inner triplets of the LHC. This magnet is required to have an operating gradient of 215 T/m across a 70 mm coil bore, and operates in superfluid helium at 1.9 K. A 2 m magnet program addressing mechanical, magnetic, quench protection, and thermal issues associated with the design was completed earlier this year, and production of the first full length, cryostatted prototype magnet is underway. This paper summarizes the conclusions of the 2 m program, and the design and status of the first full-length prototype magnet.

Fermilab Energy Doubler Beam Position Detector

This paper describes the design and performance of the beam position detector being installed in the Fermilab superconducting Energy Doubler accelerator. The detector is a stripline pickup designed to operate at 4 degrees Kelvin and with beam intensities ranging from 108 to 1011 protons per RF bucket at 53 MHz. The detector design, signal amplitude, positional sensitivity, directivity, and longitudinal impedance are presented.

Solenoid Magnet System for the Fermilab Mu2e Experiment

The Fermilab Mu2e experiment seeks to measure the rare process of direct muon to electron conversion in the field of a nucleus. Key to the design of the experiment is a system of three superconducting solenoids; a muon production solenoid (PS) which is a 1.8 m aperture axially graded solenoid with a peak field of 5 T used to focus secondary pions and muons from a production target located in the solenoid aperture; an “S shaped” transport solenoid (TS) which selects and transports the subsequent muons towards a stopping target; a detector solenoid (DS) which is an axially graded solenoid at the upstream end to focus transported muons to a stopping target, and a spectrometer solenoid at the downstream end to accurately measure the momentum of the outgoing conversion electrons. The magnetic field requirements, the significant magnetic coupling between the solenoids, the curved muon transport geometry and the large beam induced energy deposition into the superconducting coils pose significant challenges to the magnetic, mechanical, and thermal design of this system. In this paper a conceptual design for the magnetic system which meets the Mu2e experiment requirements is presented.

SSC Magnet Cryostat Suspension System Design

The design of the cryostat for the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) dipole magnets has largely been driven by the design of the cold mass suspension and anchor systems. Rigorous structural requirements in combination with low allowable heat loads have resulted in a suspension system that represents a significant departure from current superconducting magnet design practice both in performance concept and materials selection. This paper presents a summary of the suspension and anchor system designs being employed in the SSC.

Heat Leak Measurement Facility

Heat leak measurements of superconducting magnet suspension systems, and multilayer insulation (MLI) systems are important for the optimum design of magnet cryostats. For this purpose, a cryogenic test facility was developed having a versatile functional end in which test components of differing geometrical configurations can be installed and evaluated. This paper details the test facility design and operating parameters. Experimental results of heat leak measurements to 4.5 K obtained on a post type support system having heat intercepts at 10 K and 80 K are presented. Included are measurements obtained while operating the 10 K intercept at temperatures above 10 K, i.e., in the 10-40 K range. Also reported is a description of the test facility conversion for a heat load study of several MLI systems with variations of MLI installation technique. The results of the first MLI system tested are presented.

Challenges and Design of the Transport Solenoid for the Mu2e Experiment at Fermilab

The Fermilab Mu2e experiment seeks to measure the rare process of direct muon to electron conversion in the field of a nucleus. The magnet system for this experiment is made of three warm-bore solenoids: the Production Solenoid (PS), the Transport Solenoid (TS), and the Detector Solenoid (DS). The TS is an “S-shaped” solenoid set between the other bigger solenoids. The Transport Solenoid has a warm-bore aperture of 0.5 m and field between 2.5 and 2.0 T. The PS and DS have, respectively warm-bore aperture of 1.5 m and 1.9 m, and peak field of 4.6 T and 2 T. In order to meet the field specifications, the TS starts inside the PS and ends inside the DS. The strong coupling with the adjacent solenoids poses several challenges to the design and operation of the Transport Solenoid. The coil layout has to compensate for the fringe field of the adjacent solenoids. The quench protection system should handle all possible quench and failure scenarios in all three solenoids. The support system has to be able to withstand very different forces depending on the powering status of the adjacent solenoids. In this paper, the conceptual design of the Transport Solenoid is presented and discussed focusing on these coupling issues and the proposed solutions.

Design, Construction and Performance of a Post Type Cryogenic Support

A support member for superconducting magnets and other cryogenic devices has been designed, fabricated and structurally and thermally evaluated. The member is a cylindrical post constructed with fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) tubing and having metallic heat intercepts and end connections. All FRP to metal connections are made by mechanical shrink fitting and do not employ adhesives or fasteners. The post can operate in tension, compression and flexure or in combinations of these loads. The details of the design and construction are enumerated. Structural performance has been measured in tension and compression at 80 and 300 K and in flexure at 300 K. Creep effects on the shrink fit joint reliability are being evaluated. Thermal performance has been measured for a post with ends at 4.5 and 300 K and with heat intercepts at 10 and 80 K. The measured performance has been compared with the analytical predictions. Full scale, working, prototype posts have been successfully utilized in several model cryostats for the Superconducting Super Collider dipole magnet development program.

Conceptual design of the Mu2e production solenoid cold mass

The Muon-to-Electron conversion experiment (Mu2e), under development at Fermilab, seeks to detect direct muon to electron conversion to provide evidence for a process violating muon and electron lepton number conservation that cannot be explained by the Standard Model of particle physics. The required magnetic field is produced by a series of superconducting solenoids of various apertures and lengths. This paper describes the conceptual design of the 5 T, 4 m long solenoid cold mass with 1.67 m bore with the emphasis on the magnetic, radiation and thermal analyses.

Test results of LHC interaction regions quadrupoles produced by Fermilab

The US-LHC Accelerator Project is responsible for the production of the Q2 optical elements of the final focus triplets in the LHC interaction regions. As part of this program Fermilab is in the process of manufacturing and testing cryostat assemblies (LQXB) containing two identical quadrupoles (MQXB) with a dipole corrector between them. The 5.5 m long Fermilab designed MQXB have a 70 mm aperture and operate in superfluid helium at 1.9 K with a peak field gradient of 215 T/m. This paper summarizes the test results of several production MQXB quadrupoles with emphasis on quench performance and alignment studies. Quench localization studies using quench antenna signals are also presented.