Design, Fabrication, Installation and Commissioning of the Helium Refrigeration system Supporting Superconducting Radio Frequency Testing at Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University

Abstract

The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) will be a scientific user facility for the Office of Nuclear Physics in the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC). The FRIB linear accelerator (LINAC) will be comprised of cryomodules each with multiple Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) cavities operating at 2 K. A helium refrigeration system was designed, fabricated, installed and commissioned in the SRF high bay building to test and certify these cavities and cryomodules before installation in the FRIB LINAC tunnel. The helium refrigeration system includes a helium refrigerator which has nominal capacity of 900 W at 4 K, 5000 L liquid helium storage Dewar, helium gas storage, two room temperature vacuum pumps capable of 2.5 g/s each for 2 K testing, purifier, purifier recovery compressor, and the distribution system for liquid nitrogen and helium. The helium refrigeration system is now operational supporting three below grade cavity testing Dewars and one cryomodule testing bunker meeting the required throughput of 1 cavity per day.