Components & Hardware
Gravity Supports
The structure carrying the machine's weight while allowing thermal motion.
- Role
- Weight + thermal motion
Gravity supports hold up the cold mass and vessel while flexing to accommodate the large contractions of cool-down and the loads of operation — a critical structural interface.
Common questions
What are the gravity supports?
The structural feet that carry the entire cold mass and vessel weight down to the building foundation while accommodating thermal contraction and seismic loads, and limiting heat leak into the cold mass.
Are they routine?
They are careful but conventional structural engineering, combining load-bearing, low thermal conductance and seismic qualification — well within established practice.