go to BNL home page

Production & Testing

Environmental, Safety & Health

QA & Manufacturing Documentation

Training

Technical Information

Publications

Meetings & Workshops

Staff pages

Computer help

Projects

  HTS solenoid for ERL

  High Field Magnet R&D

  Linear Collider Final Focus

  GSI Rapid Cycling Magnets

  BEPC-II IR Quadrupoles

  Correctors for J-PARC

  LARP

  APUL

  Past Projects

  

Cryogenic Facility

There are two helium refrigerators in B902: MAGCOOL-HEUB and PAT

MAGCOOL-HEUB refrigerator
MAGCOOL-HEUB refrigerator

MAGCOOL-HEUB is a CTI Model 4000 refrigerator.  It has two reciprocating expanders and has a design capacity of 1500 W at 4.5 K.  Together with a Model 1600 Wet Expander, MAGCOOL-HEUB is the primarily source of helium liquefaction in B902.  Maximum liquefaction is ~ 320 liter per hour using both expanders and the wet expander.
PAT control panel with PLC
PAT control panel with PLC
PAT helium refrigerator is designed and built by CVI corporation using two Air Liquide turbines. The design capacity is ~1000 W at 4.5 K. It was installed in B902 for Production and Testing of magnets in 1979. For more than a decade, it has performed reliably. Reliability of the turbines deteriorated in the late 90's.
Air Liquide Turbine on PAT
Air Liquide Turbine on PAT
PAT was brought back to service with a major upgrade on instrumentation and control of the turbines funded under a BNL GPP grant. The installation effort took about one year. After test runs conducted in December 2003, PAT is used routinely with a capacity of ~ 160 Liter per hour.

 

 (Back)

In the vertical test area, there are five Test Dewars for testing superconducting magnets and cable samples using pool boiling. 

Cable dewar 4
Cable dewar 4

Test Dewar 2 and 3 are dedicated for testing magnets and are 6 m (20 foot) deep.  The inner diameter is 24 inch for dewar 2.  Dewar 3 has an inner diameter of 28 inch to accommodate larger magnets such as DX or LHC D2.

Test Dewar 4, 5 and 6 are mainly dedicated for testing cable samples and are 2.7 m ( 9 foot) deep.  The inner diameter is 24 inch.  Dewar 4 and 6 are designed for 4.5 K operation.  Dewar 5 can be operated at either 4.5 or 1.8 K.

 

 (Back)

In the horizontal area, magnets are being tested using supercritical forced flow at 4.5 K.  There are five stands: Bay A, B, C, D and E.   Bay C has an added feature for testing magnet in pool boiling.  Presently,

MAGCOOL test stand
MAGCOOL test stand

Bay A is used in conjunction with helium liquefaction.
Bay B is not used.
Bay C is used for testing LHC D2 magnet.
Bay D is reserved for magnets similar to that for DESY upgrade.
Bay E is reserved for RHIC magnet.

 (Back)

There are three liquid helium storage:

Storage Dewar 1:      3,785 Liter (1,000 gallon)
Storage Dewar 2:      3,785 Liter (1,000 gallon)
Storage Dewar 3:    10,000 Liter (2,640 gallon, ~ 22 gal / in)

The liquid nitrogen storage is 40,000 L.

 (Back)

Gas recovery system:

Under construction

 (Back)

$ and Cents

Per BNL Supply Material Division, price of liquid helium is $ 3.25 per Liter in 2001 (in 60, 100, 250 or 500 L size).  Delivery to BNL is limited to Monday, Wednesday and Friday only.  A $400 shipping charge will be added if order is not placed in time.

“Liquid helium is cold (-269 degree Celsius or 4.5 K) and expensive.”

In an emergency situation, the value of liquid helium cannot be measured in dollars per liter.  If a superconducting magnet runs out of liquid helium (due to delivery problems, for example), testing delays and the cost to re-cool the magnet will be significant.  The Magnet Division has been glad to help other on site users on a few occasions.
 

The price for a 50,000 cubic foot helium tube trailer is ~ $4,400 ($3,600 for gas plus $825 for shipping).  The price of “helium gas” per liter of “liquid helium” is ~ $2.44.  Compared with $3.25/L for liquid, the price difference between liquid and gaseous helium is ~ $0.80.  There is a strong incentive for gas recovery provided that there is a good purification system.

Price of liquid nitrogen is ~ 6 cents per liter.

 (Back)

   

Last update on: February 22, 2008 by D. McChesney.