Cryoplant Installation
The helium refrigeration plant that keeps the superconducting coils cold is installed, connected, and commissioned before magnet energization.
The high-field plug and central-cell coils are superconducting, so they need continuous cryogenic cooling. The cryoplant is a helium refrigeration system with compressors, a cold box, distribution lines, and the current-lead cooling that carries away resistive heat at the warm-to-cold transition.
Why it is on the critical path
No coil is energized until it is cold and its protection systems are live. The cryoplant must therefore be installed, leak-checked, and demonstrated capable of reaching and holding operating temperature before magnet commissioning. Its reliability directly bounds machine availability, because a loss of cooling forces a controlled magnet discharge.
Installation scope
- Compressor skids and oil-removal systems
- Cold box and heat exchangers
- Vacuum-jacketed transfer lines to each cold mass
- Current-lead cooling circuits
- Helium inventory, storage, and recovery
Commissioning the cold chain
Commissioning proves the full chain: circulate, cool down the cold masses in a controlled ramp, verify temperatures and flow at every coil, and confirm the plant can reject the steady heat load plus transient loads from operations. Cool-down rate is managed so thermal contraction does not disturb coil alignment.
Cryoplant sizing follows the frozen magnet design (26.49 T plug, 17 T throat). The system is engineered and simulated at design stage.