The Autonomous Hardware Failsafe
A self-contained hardware chain detects a magnet delta-T precursor and dumps the quench with zero latency and zero dependence on any AI or software.
The last line, by design independent
Kronos's most important safety property is that the magnet protection path does not depend on intelligence of any kind. No model, no CPU, no software scheduler participates in the decision to protect a high-field REBCO magnet. A dedicated hardware chain senses the earliest thermal precursor of a quench and commits the energy dump on its own timing.
The chain
Distributed thermometry and co-wound sensing across the REBCO winding produce a local temperature-rise signal ΔT. When the rate or magnitude of ΔT crosses a hardwired comparator threshold — the signature of a normal zone forming — the comparator drives a switching element (a VOx / metal-oxide bypass path) that diverts current out of the affected winding into an external dump, converting stored magnetic energy to heat outside the coil.
- Sensing: co-wound voltage taps + fiber/RTD thermometry, analog.
- Decision: fixed-threshold comparator, no programmable logic in the trip path.
- Action: VOx quench-bypass dump element, latching.
- Result: current commutated to external resistor bank; coil energy removed.
Why zero-AI matters
A REBCO magnet at the breeder's 16.84 T peak field, or the burner's 26.49 T plug, stores large magnetic energy. A local normal zone that is not de-energized fast enough can drive destructive local heating. The protection therefore must work when everything smarter has failed: no network, no power to the compute racks, no valid model. By construction the failsafe uses only local analog sensing and a passive-biased switching element.
Relationship to L1
The FPGA control plane runs a faster, richer quench-precursor estimator that can act earlier and more selectively. But the hardware failsafe underneath it is the floor: even if the FPGA path is disabled, the ΔT → dump chain fires. Intelligence lowers the probability of ever reaching the floor; the floor guarantees safety when it is reached.