Post by Business with CERN

The High-Luminosity LHC (#HiLumiLHC) will significantly extend the scientific reach of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. By increasing the number of particle collisions delivered to the experiments, it will allow physicists to collect more data and explore rare phenomena with greater precision than ever before. Reaching this new level of performance requires substantial upgrades to the LHC infrastructure, including its cryogenic systems. To operate the new superconducting magnets around the #ATLAS and #CMS experiments, additional cooling capacity is essential. ❄️ 🏗️ As part of this upgrade, CERN is deploying two new helium refrigeration systems at Points 1 and 5 of the LHC, complementing the eight refrigerators already in operation. The main equipment, including the compressor stations and refrigerator cold boxes supplied by Linde Kryotechnik 🇨🇭, has now been successfully delivered and is currently being installed and commissioned on site. Each system includes a high-capacity compressor station, which compresses the helium to 20 bar, and a refrigerator cold box that lowers the temperature and pressure of the helium to 4.5 K (−269°C) and 3 bar. These systems are complemented by cold compressor boxes, which further cool helium down to just a few degrees above absolute zero, enabling the production of superfluid helium at 1.9 K (−271°C) required for cryogenic operation. 🛠️The scope of work includes the design, manufacture, assembly, installation, commissioning and testing of the refrigeration systems, with compressor skid assembly carried out by ENERPROJECT - Gas Compression Solutions 🇨🇭. Full commissioning of the systems is foreseen by 2029 and will represent major step towards HL-LHC operation. Congratulations to the teams involved on this milestone Emmanuel Monneret Daniel Schoerling Álvaro Leciñana Soldevilla HiLumi Project #BusinessWithCERN #Cryogenics #AcceleratorTechnology #ParticlePhysics