NEWS
September 2008
Fine Tubes beams CERN LHC on its way to success.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the next accelerator being constructed on the CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research) site below the French-Swiss border. The LHC machine will mainly accelerate and collide 7 TeV proton beams but also heavier ions up to lead. It will be installed in the existing 27 km circumference tunnel, about 100 m underground, that previously housed the Large Electron Positron Collider (LEP). The LHC design is based on superconducting twin-aperture magnets which operate in a superfluid helium bath at 1.98 K.
The cooling tubes from part of the "Beam Screens" are inserted into the beam pipes of the LHC superconducting magnets. These cooling tubes carry a flow of supercritical Helium with a temperature between 5K and 20K (Kelvin) - 0K = -273°C - at a pressure of up to 2.6MPa (380 Psi).
The cooling tubes are 4.76mm outside diameter with a wall thickness of 0.53mm. A total of 110km was supplied in lengths up to 15.8m long.
The challenge for Fine Tubes was to process a material which, whilst ideal for the application, was tough to process and demanded high metallurgical cleanliness and exceptionally low levels of inside diameter contamination.
Fine Tubes pedigree of producing high specification products for the Nuclear, Medical and Semiconductor industries was essential in meeting the demanding final product specifications.
FACTS:
4.76mm OD +/- 0.05mm
0.53mm wall +/- 1-0.05mm
0.8µm Ra ID + OD surface finish
Tube lengths 15.8 m long
Quantity supplied 110km
Contract value > £1.0m
For further details please contact:
Brian Mercer
Sales and Marketing Director
Fine Tubes Ltd.
Plymbridge Road
Estover
Plymouth, PL6 7LG, UK
Phone: +44 (0) 1752 697212
E-mail:
