Use Cases

We work hand-in-hand with CERN equipment owners to develop state-of-the-art designs based on their specifications, agreeing with the Groups, who maintain the final responsibility of the equipment, the main design choices.

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Crab Cavities

Overview

As part of the accelerator complex at CERN, RF cavities endorse the important role of accelerating  (or manipulating in some specific cases) particle beams. RF cavities are almost always based on superconducting materials and works at cryogenic temperatures in UHV conditions. Alignment is as well of paramount importance:  assembly of RF cavities requires particular care, considering that they are often grouped in cryomodules to reduce the operational costs.

Challenge

RF cavities are very sensitive to any particle deposited on internal surfaces. Undesired dirt will reduce drastically the available voltage and will increase radiation emission.

Assembly in Clean Room is essential to ensure the highest performances once in operation. Complexity of components require the development of specific tools. 

Solutions

Our Design Office has long experience in designing suitable tools for Clean Room assembly. Alignment benches, lifting machinery, assembly tools are conceived with proper features to grant compatibility with low class Clean Rooms. Knowledge on manipulation of heavy components has been as well developed by our team.

Few images are related to the tools used for assembling the string of Crab cavities in ISO5 clean Room (aligned with precision of +/-0,2mm). Other images are related to the assembly tools for ISOLDE cryomodule in ISO5 clean Room (3,5 tons gantry and transfer table )

BENEFITS

  • Nanometric actuators: The tuner pushes accuracy for a displacement of a few nanometers under cryogenic temperatures.
  • LHC luminosity improvement: First prototypes have demonstrated that these cavities can “crab” a proton beam, a world first.
  • Collaboration between research centers :  The original designs come from USA institutes which also collaborated on the mass production.

OUTCOME

  • This equipment enables CERN to proceed with essential HL-LHC targets: increasing beam luminosity.
  • We expect to contribute +10% to the luminosity improvement thanks to the crab cavities.
  • They will be installed in the LHC from 2027 and in service in 2030.

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