Air Liquide delivers the largest cryogenic system in the world to CERN
Near Geneva, on the Franco-Swiss border, CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) is building the most powerful particle accelerator in the world. The CERN LHC (Large Hadron Collider) particle accelerator will break new ground in terms of knowledge of particle physics and will therefore advance fundamental research on matter and the birth of the universe.
Having installed and tested the last elements at the end of October 2006, Air Liquide has now transferred ownership of the entire LHC liquid helium supply system to CERN, completing a 22-month works program. The exceptional size of this cryogenic system and its expected performance levels have made this project a real technological challenge, according to Air Liquide. The cryogenic distribution system for over 800,000 litres of helium takes the form of a ring with a circumference of 27 kilometers, placed in a tunnel approximately 100 meters underground. This cryogenic system supplies superfluid helium at a temperature of 1.9K (-271°C) to the 1,700 superconducting magnets of the LHC particle accelerator.
Construction of this system required 3,000 elements, manufactured in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal with a precision measured to the nearest tenth of a millimetre.
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