A New Cryogenic Test Facility for Large and Heavy Superconducting Magnets

CERN has recently designed and constructed a new cryogenic facility for testing large and heavy superconducting magnets at liquid helium temperatures. The facility, erected in a large assembly hall with cranes capable of up to 100 t, provides a cooling capacity of 1.2 kW at 4.5 K equivalent, 15-kW LN
₂
cooling and warming capabilities for up to three magnets in parallel. The facility provides the required technical infrastructure for continuous and reliable operation. Test capabilities comprise electrical, cryogenics, vacuum and mechanical verification, and validation at ambient and liquid helium temperatures. A comprehensive survey and magnetic measurement system, comprising a hall-probe mapper, a rotating-coil magnetometer, a stretched wire, a translating fluxmeter, and a laser tracker, allows the detailed measurement of the magnetic field strength and quality on a large volume. The magnetic axes of the quadrupoles can be established within ± 0.2 mm at 1σ accuracy. The facility has been equipped with power supplies, three converters of ± 500 A/120 V, and six converters of ± 600 A/40 V, as well as the required energy extraction, quench protection, data acquisition, and interlocks for the testing of superconducting magnets for the FAIR project, currently under construction at the GSI Research Center, in Darmstadt, Germany. The versatile design of the facility, its layout, and testing capabilities complements CERN's other test infrastructures for large superconducting magnets. We report on the design, construction, and commissioning of the facility as well as the expected capabilities and performances for future tests of large and heavy superconducting magnets.