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Repair of the LHC: the last magnet down underground
:: 04 May, 2009
The 53rd and last alternative magnet for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN has been revealed in the accelerator tunnel. This marks the end of repair work carried out in area following the incident last September which has halted the operation of the LHC. In the tunnel, there is the interconnection of the magnets and new systems are installed to prevent such incidents in future. The LHC will restart in the Fall the four seasons of temperate zones. It takes place between summer and winter. And run continuously until data have been collected amount that the LHC experiments could announce their first results.
"Today marks an important step for repair operations, said Steve Myers, Director of accelerators and the technology We have returned to a position close to where we were before incident, and we can now focus our efforts on the installation of systems to prevent incidents of this type. "
The last magnet, a quadrupole for focusing the beam, was descended and began his journey to the 3-4 area, scene of the incident last September. All magnets are now down, the bulk of the work in the tunnel will connect the magnets between them and install new security systems. On the surface, the teams will work to replenish the reserve of spare magnets for the LHC.
A total of 53 magnets have been withdrawn from the sector 3-4. Sixteen, which had suffered minimal damage, have been renovated and restored to the tunnel. The remaining 37 were replaced by magnets and will spare themselves renovated to serve as spare parts in the future.
"We will now divide into two groups," says Lucio Rossi, Deputy Head of Technology Department of CERN. The largest group will perform the work of interconnection in the tunnel while a second group replenish our stock of spare magnets .
Repair of the LHC has three parts. First, the repair itself, which is poised to end with the installation of the last magnet today. Secondly, the installation of systems to monitor the machine and ensure that incidents similar to last September can not reproduce. This work will continue during the summer. Third, the introduction of additional valve, which is ongoing. Thus, helium can be evacuated in a safe and controlled, if leakage occurs inside the cryostat during the 15 to 20 years of exploitation of the LHC.
Tags: Repair of the LHC , LHC , Large Hadron Collider , CERN , ,
