The helium refrigerator of the cryogenic system for Steady-state High Magnetic Field Facility (SHMFF), which is one of the National Grant Science and Technology Infrastructure Project of the 11th 5-Year Plan undertook by CHMFL, was put into regular operation on Mar. 20th, 2012, after two weeks of trial operation.
All parameters of the system meet the specifications or exceed the designed technical requirements. The cooling capacity reaches 380 Watts at 4.5 K in refrigeration mode, and produce 130.8 Liters liquid Helium per hour in liquefaction mode, which exceeds the original designed technical requirements (360 Watts @ 4.5 K in refrigeration mode, or 110 Liters per hour in liquefaction mode). This marks the Cryogenic System has been constructed successfully in High Magnetic Field Laboratory Chinese Academy of Sciences (CHMFL).
Cryogenic System consists of helium refrigerator, compressor, storage tanks, recovery system, purification system. The Helium Refrigerator is a vital component of the cryogenic system, which will supply supercritical helium to cool down the 40-T hybrid superconducting magnet outsert and other superconducting magnets. The Installation and construction of the Cryogenic System for SHMFF started in May 2011.
The staff scientists of cryogenic group in CHMFL and the France engineers from Air Liquide Company has been worked jointly for several months and worked out many technical challenges including facility in-position, piping, cabling and leakage detecting etc. The sucessful operation of the CHMFL Cryogenic System, not only provides an important technical support to SHMFF, but also builds an experienced cryogenic supporting team in CHMFL.
Pipe installation
Debugging preparation
System debugging
The check and acceptance meeting on helium refrigerator
(All images by ZHANG Fengping,LOU Xue and MENG Qiumin)
