06 Beam Instrumentation and Feedback
T23 Machine Protection
Paper Title Page
WEPC169 BPM System Interlock for Machine Protection at SOLEIL 2379
 
  • J.-C. Denard, C. Herbeaux, M. Labat, V. Leroux, A. Loulergue, J.L. Marlats
    SOLEIL, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
 
  SOLEIL, a third generation light source, has its Beam Position Monitors (BPM) processed by the LIBERA electronics built by Instrumentation Technologies. This electronics initiated and specified by SOLEIL features a fast hardware interlock output for machine protection. Although interlocks are available in both horizontal and vertical planes, it was initially thought that only the vertical interlocks would be useful. Actually, the high photon beam power densities (up to 1kW/mm2) generated by the in-vacuum undulators could damage vacuum chamber elements in case of corrector power supply failures in horizontal or vertical plane. Crotch absorbers, XBPMs and their upstream absorbers were designed on the basis that they will be protected with interlock thresholds not tighter than ±1mm. This approach was also applied for specifying the apertures of the XBPMs and of their upstream absorbers. More recently tracking simulation has shown that the crotch absorber apertures downstream the new canted undulators needed special attention.  
 
WEPC170 Handling of BLM Abort Thresholds in the LHC 2382
 
  • E. Nebot Del Busto, B. Dehning, E.B. Holzer, S. Jackson, G. Kruk, M. Nemcic, A. Nordt, A. Orecka, C. Roderick, M. Sapinski, A. Skaugen, C. Zamantzas
    CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
 
  The Beam Loss Monitoring system (BLM) for the LHC consists of about 3600 Ionization Chambers located around the ring. Its main purpose is to request a beam abort when the measured losses exceed a certain threshold. The BLM detectors integrate the measured signals in 12 different time intervals (running from 40 us to 83.8 s) enabling for a different set of abort thresholds depending on the duration of the beam loss. Furthermore, 32 energy levels running from 0 to 7 TeV account for the fact that the energy density of a particle shower increases with the energy of the primary particle, i.e. the beam energy. Thus, about 1.3·106 thresholds must be handled and send to the appropriate processing modules for the system to function. These thresholds are highly critical for the safety of the machine and depend to a large part on human judgment, which cannot be replaced by automatic test procedures. The BLM team has defined well established procedures to compute, set and check new BLM thresholds, in order to avoid and/or find non-conformities due to manipulation. These procedures, as well as the tools developed to automate this process are described in detail in this document.  
 
WEPC171 Requirements of a Beam Loss Monitoring System for the CLIC Two Beam Modules 2385
 
  • S. Mallows
    The University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
  • E.B. Holzer, A.P. Mechev, J.W. van Hoorne
    CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
  • C.P. Welsch
    Cockcroft Institute, Warrington, Cheshire, United Kingdom
 
  he Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) study investigates the feasibility of a high-energy electron-positron linear collider optimized for a centre of mass energy of 3 TeV. To achieve the high accelerating gradients, the RF power is produced by a novel two-beam acceleration method in which a decelerating drive beam supplies energy to the main accelerating beam. The linacs are arranged in modular structures referred to as the two beam modules which cover 42 km of beamline. Beam losses from either beam can have severe consequences due to the high intensity drive beam and the high energy, small emittance main beam. This paper presents recent developments towards the design of a Cherenkov fiber BLM system and discusses its ability to distinguish losses originating from either beam.  
 
WEPC172 Beam-induced Quench Test of a LHC Main Quadrupole 2388
 
  • A. Priebe, K. Dahlerup-Petersen, B. Dehning, E. Effinger, J. Emery, E.B. Holzer, C. Kurfuerst, E. Nebot Del Busto, A. Nordt, M. Sapinski, J. Steckert, A.P. Verweij, C. Zamantzas
    CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
  • A. Priebe
    EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
 
  Unexpected beam loss might lead to transition of a superconducting accelerator magnet to a normal conducting state. The LHC beam loss monitoring (BLM) system is designed to abort the beam before the energy deposited in the magnet coils reaches a quench-provoking level. In order to verify the threshold settings generated by simulation, a series of beam-induced quench tests at various beam energies have been performed. The beam losses are generated by means of an orbit bump peaked in one of the main quadrupole magnets. The analysis not only includes BLM data but also data from the electrical quench protection and cryogenic systems. The measurements are compared to Geant4 simulations of energy deposition inside the coils and corresponding BLM signal outside the cryostat. The results are also extrapolated to higher beam energies.  
 
WEPC173 LHC Magnet Quench Test with Beam Loss Generated by Wire Scan 2391
 
  • M. Sapinski, F. Cerutti, K. Dahlerup-Petersen, B. Dehning, J. Emery, A. Ferrari, A. Guerrero, E.B. Holzer, M. Koujili, A. Lechner, E. Nebot Del Busto, M. Scheubel, J. Steckert, A.P. Verweij, J. Wenninger
    CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
 
  Beam losses with millisecond duration have been observed in the LHC in 2010 and 2011. They are expected to be provoked by dust particles falling into the beam. These losses could compromise the LHC availability if they provoke quenches of superconducting magnets. In order to investigate the quench limits for this loss mechanism, a quench test using the wire scanner has been performed, with the wire movement through the beam mimicking a loss with similar spatial and temporal distribution as in the case of dust particles. This paper will show the conclusions reached for millisecond-duration dust-provoked quench limits. It will include details on the maximum energy deposited in the coil as estimated using FLUKA code, showing good agreement with quench limit estimated from the heat transfer code QP3. In addition, information on the damage limit for carbon wires in proton beams will be presented, following electron microscope analysis which revealed strong wire sublimation.  
 
WEPC174 A Failure Catalogue for the LHC 2394
 
  • S. Wagner, R. Schmidt, B. Todd, J.A. Uythoven, M. Zerlauth
    CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
 
  The LHC, with a stored energy of more than 360 MJ per beam, requires a complex machine protection system to prevent equipment damage. The system was designed based on a large number of possible failures in the subsystems and operational phases of the LHC. This led to a mixed system with active and passive protection. The active part monitors many thousand parameters (such as beam losses, temperatures in superconducting magnets, power converter currents, etc.) and triggers a beam dump in case a failure is detected. The passive part includes protection elements like collimators and beam absorbers to ensure the prevention of damage in case of single turn beam losses (e.g. during beam transfer and injection). So far, the knowledge of the possible failures is distributed over the different teams involved in the design, construction and operation of the LHC. A newly started project aims at bringing together this knowledge in a common failure catalogue. The chosen approach in addition is expected to allow for the identification of failures that might not have been considered yet or that require further measures. This paper introduces the approach and presents the first experience.  
 
WEPC175 FLUKA Studies of the Asynchronous Beam Dump Effects on LHC Point 6 2397
 
  • R. Versaci, V. Boccone, B. Goddard, A. Mereghetti, R. Schmidt, V. Vlachoudis
    CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
 
  The LHC is a record-breaking machine for beam energy and intensity. An intense effort has therefore been deployed in simulating critical operational scenarios of energy deposition. FLUKA is the most widely used code for this kind of simulations at CERN because of the high reliability of its results and the ease to custom detailed simulations all along hundreds of meters of beam line. We have investigated the effects of an asynchronous beam dump on the LHC Point 6 where, beams with a stored energy of 360 MJ, can instantaneously release up to a few J cm-3 in the cryogenic magnets which have a quench limit of the order of the mJ cm-3. In the present paper we will briefly introduce FLUKA, describe the simulation approach, and discuss the evaluated maximum energy release onto the superconducting magnets during an asynchronous beam dump. We will then analyse the shielding provided by collimators installed in the area and discuss safety limits for the operation of the LHC.  
 
WEPC176 Beam Loss Monitoring and Machine Protection System Design and Application for the ALICE Test Accelerator at Daresbury Laboratory 2400
 
  • S.R. Buckley, J.-L. Fernández-Hernando
    STFC/DL/ASTeC, Daresbury, Warrington, Cheshire, United Kingdom
 
  ALICE is a demonstrator accelerator system which has been designed and built at Daresbury Laboratory. The heart of this facility is an ERL accelerator and a powerful multi-terrawatt laser. It serves as an advanced test facility for novel accelerator and photon science applications. Beam loss monitoring and machine protection systems are vital areas for the successful operation of ALICE. These systems are required, both for efficient machine set up and for hardware protection during operation. This paper gives an overview of the system design, commissioning details and a summary of the systems’ effectiveness as a diagnostic tool.