Design and Construction of a Prototype Superfluid Helium Cryostat for the Short Straight Sections of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

Abstract

The lattice of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will contain 384 Short Straight Section (SSS) units, one in every 51 m half-cell. A Short Straight Section is composed of a twin aperture high-field superconducting quadrupole, two combined-function corrector magnets, and quench protection diodes, all operating in pressurised helium II at 1.9 K. The SSS cryostat also contains a barrier for sectoring the insulation vacuum, and a Technical Service Module housing beam diagnostics, current feedthroughs and instrumentation capillaries, as well as cryogenic valves and pipework serving the local half-cell cooling loop. The helium vessel with its magnets, weighing about 6000 kg, stands on two low heat leak supports. Separate vacuum manifolds permit pumping the beam pipes every 51 m. Two thermal insulation systems, the radiative insulation and a gaseous helium cooled thermal shield, intercept incoming radiative and conductive heat. All these components must be arranged to perform without interference and within the tight constraints of minimum transverse and longitudinal space occupancy. The design and function of the prototype SSS and its main features, covering mechanical and thermal aspects as well a construction details, are described.