CERN has installed two cold boxes at the ATLAS and CMS sites, a major milestone for the High-Luminosity LHC upgrade.
The infrastructure for the High-Luminosity LHC marked a significant logistical and technical development last week with the successful installation of two large cold boxes at the ATLAS and CMS experiment sites.
These components represent a central part of the upgraded cryogenic system required for the accelerator’s future operations, which are currently scheduled to commence in 2030.The two cylindrical cold boxes, which measure 16 meters in length and 3.5 meters in diameter, were manufactured in Germany by the engineering company Linde. To reach the CERN facility, the heavy equipment required a complex transport route. They traveled by barge along the Danube, Main, and Rhine rivers before being transported by road via Basel to their final destination. This installation follows the earlier placement of six compression units in October, maintaining the scheduled pace for the surface-level infrastructure.World’s largest cryogenic installationThe Large Hadron Collider is already the largest cryogenic installation globally. Currently, 23 of the accelerator’s 27 kilometers are maintained at a temperature of 1.9 kelvin to ensure the proper function of thousands of superconducting magnets. This temperature is achieved using refrigerators that circulate superfluid helium. However, the transition to the HL-LHC requires a substantial increase in cooling capacity.The HL-LHC project aims to increase the “luminosity” of the accelerator—effectively increasing the number of collisions occurring at each beam crossing. To achieve this, the facility will employ more powerful focusing magnets and new types of cavities on both sides of the ATLAS and CMS experiments. This equipment generates higher thermal loads and demands increased cooling power. Consequently, two new refrigerators are being added to the eight units already servicing the existing accelerator.Mechanics of industrial coolingWhile the fundamental principles of these refrigerators mirror those of a standard domestic kitchen fridge, the scale and complexity differ greatly. The installations occupy several buildings and rely on large compressors and the newly installed cold boxes. The process begins with the compressors, which compress helium to 20 bar. The helium then passes into the cold box, which houses heat exchangers and expansion turbines. These components work to lower the temperature and pressure of the helium to 4.5 kelvin at 3 bar.Work to connect these elements and implement the necessary control systems is planned to continue throughout the coming year. Concurrently, technical teams will install the cryogenic lines required to transport helium from the surface facilities to the underground installations. The next phase of the cooling process involves installing two smaller cold boxes underground, scheduled for February. These units will be responsible for lowering the helium temperature by the final few degrees to reach the operational target of 1.9 kelvin .According to the current timeline, the new cryogenic installations will be ready for testing by the end of 2026. These tests will utilize heating systems designed to simulate the specific thermal loads expected from the magnets, cavities, cold powering systems, and other equipment requiring cooling during full HL-LHC operation.
Cryogenic Physics LHC Particle Physics Refrigerator
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