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Engineering the Big Chill: The Story of JLab’s Central Helium Liquefier

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Abstract

This article tells the story of the Central Helium Liquefier (CHL) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab), one of the US National Laboratories. JLab’s successful superconducting radio frequency accelerator was only possible because a group of JLab engineers successfully tackled a complex of difficulties to build a cryogenic system that included the CHL, a task that required advancing the frontier of cryogenic technology. Ultimately, these cryogenic advances were applied far beyond JLab to the benefit of cutting-edge programs at other US national laboratories (Oak Ridge, Brookhaven, and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at MSU) as well as NASA. This innovation story dramatizes the sort of engineer-driven technological problem solving that allows the successful launch and operation of experimental projects. Along the way, the CHL story also provides an important addition to our understanding of the role played by engineers and industry in creating knowledge at physics laboratories.

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Notes

  1. The project was first named the National Electron Accelerator Laboratory (NEAL) and then renamed the Continuous Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) before obtaining its current name. At that time, the accelerator became known as CEBAF. For the sake of consistency and simplicity, I will throughout refer to the laboratory by its customary nickname, JLab.

  2. BCS theory, which explains superconductivity, was named after its discoverers John Bardeen, Leon Neil Cooper, and John Robert Schrieffer. BCS resistance arises from the fact that the Cooper pairs, a fundamental feature of BCS theory, exhibit zero resistance for DC currents but their finite mass and momentum must alternate sinusoidally for the AC currents of RF fields, giving rise to a small energy loss.

  3. A tokamak is a magnetic confinement device. The Princeton tokamak was used for fusion research.

References

  1. Douglas Higinbotham, Wally Melnitchouk, and Anthony Thomas, ed., New Insights into the Structure of Matter: The First Decade of Science at Jefferson Lab, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 299 (Bristol: IOP Publishing, 2011), 1.

  2. The superconducting, recirculated linac design of CEBAF provides a beam quality (in terms of energy stability, energy spread, transverse emittance, and position stability) remarkably better (typically an order of magnitude or more in each parameter) than what would have been possible from the original SURA pulsed linac-stretcher ring design. This beam quality enabled a broad range of experiments, from nuclear structure studies to parity violation, that simply would have been impossible with the linac-stretcher ring and have contributed immeasurably to the scientific productivity of the laboratory.

  3. Higinbotham et al, chapters 14 and 15 (ref. 1).

  4. For the early history of the Berkeley laboratory, see J. L. Heilbron and Robert W. Seidel, Lawrence and His Laboratory: A History of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989).

  5. Dominique Pestre and John Krige, “Some Thoughts on the Early History of CERN,” in Peter Galison and Bruce Hevly, ed., Big Science: The Growth of Large-Scale Research (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992), 93.

  6. Catherine Westfall, “Surviving to Tell the Tale: Argonne’s Intense Pulsed Neutron Source from an Ecosystem Perspective,” Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences, 40 (2010), 350–398; Robert P. Crease, Making Physics: A Biography of Brookhaven National Laboratory, 1946–1972 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), chapter 12; Robert P. Crease, “The National Synchrotron Light Source, Part II: The Bakeout,” Physics in Perspective 11 (2009), 15–45.

  7. Michael Crowley-Milling, “The Development of Accelerator Art and Expertise at CERN: 1960-1980,” in John Krige, ed. History of CERN (Oxford, Elsevier, 1996), 3:547-552.

  8. H. Alan Schwettman, “The Development of Low Temperature Technology at Stanford and its Relevance to High Energy Physics,” in “Proceedings of the 1968 Summer Study on Superconducting Devices and Accelerators, Brookhaven National Laboratory June 10–July 19, 1968.” BNL 50155 (C-55).

  9. Catherine Westfall, “Jefferson Lab’s 1985 Switch to Superconducting Accelerator Technology,” CEBAF-PR-94-06, https://misportal.jlab.org/ul/publications/view_pub.cfm?pub_id=824, last accessed May 21, 2013.

  10. Though considered unworkable by many because of previous failed attempts to implement it, a successful SRF accelerator promised better quality beams at lower operating cost, as well as the possibility of later upgrade to deliver higher energy. For more information on the beginnings of the JLab, the initial accelerator design, and the decision to switch to SRF technology, see Catherine Westfall, “A Tale of Two More Laboratories: Readying for Research at Fermilab and Jefferson Laboratory, Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences 32 (2002), 369–407.

  11. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, July 11, 2012.

  12. Continuous Beam Accelerator Facility, “CEBAF Design Report,” May 1986, 5, iii.

  13. Ibid., 141.

  14. Ibid., 141–149. Paul Brindza, “CEBAF’s Cryogenic System,” Advances in Cryogenic Engineering 33 (1985), 623–630.

  15. Ref. 12, 141–149; Dana Arenius and Venkatarao Ganni, private communication, September 6, 2012.

  16. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, July 11, 2012; Dana Arenius and Venkatarao Ganni, private communication, September 6, 2012.

  17. For the most part, scholars have not addressed the connections that link accelerator laboratories and cutting-edge technological companies. An exception is: Michael Crowley-Milling, “The Development of Accelerator Art and Expertise at CERN: 1960–1980. Twenty Fruitful Years,” in Krige, History of CERN, 3:477-558, esp. 547–550. Ref. 12, 149.

  18. Claus Rode, “CEBAF Cryogenic System,” July 1995, CEBAF-PR-95-04, http://www.cebaf.gov/div_dept/admin/publications/papers/95/PR95-040.pdf, last accessed January 22, 2012. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, July 11, 2012.

  19. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, May 8, 2000.

  20. To recover this 30K–300K refrigeration, the flow would be inserted back into the 4.5K refrigerator at the 30K temperature location within the refrigerator. A helium gas purifier and helium gas recovery compressors (not shown in figure 4) would allow the system to maintain gas purities with less than 1 part-per-million of contamination.

  21. Claus Rode, “CEBAF Cryogenic System,” July 1995 (ref. 18).

  22. Dana Arenius, “Cryogenics at JLab,”June 25, 2012; Claus Rode, private communication, June 25, 2013.

  23. Arenius, “Cryogenics at JLab”(ref. 22).

  24. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, May 8, 2000.

  25. Ref. 12, 141–148. Dana Arenius and Venkatarao Ganni, private communication, September 6, 2012.

  26. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, May 8, 2000.

  27. Claus Rode later remembered that KPS was rejected “because their design had incorporated Brookhaven National Laboratory oil-bearing technology.” Claus Rode, private communication, September 21, 2012.

  28. Venkatarao Ganni, private communication, September 6, 2012.

  29. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, May 8, 2000; Rode, “CEBAF Cryogenic System” (ref. 18).

  30. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, May 8, 2000; Rode, “CEBAF Cryogenic System” (ref. 18).

  31. Ibid.; Arenius, “Cryogenics at JLab”(ref. 22).

  32. Rode, “CEBAF Cryogenic System” (ref. 18). Arenius, “Cryogenics at JLab”(ref. 22).

  33. Claus Rode, private communication, September 21, 2012. W. C. Chronis, D. M. Arenius, B. X. Bevins, V. Ganni, D. H. Kashy, M. M. Keesee, T. R. Reid, and J. D. Wilson, “Procurement and Commissioning of the CHL Refrigerator at CEBAF,” Advances in Cryogenic Engineering 41 (1996), 641–648.

  34. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, July 11, 2012; Chronis et al. (ref. 33).

  35. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, July 11, 2012.

  36. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, May 8, 2012.

  37. For more on the funding and SRF delays, see Catherine Westfall, “A Tale of Two More Laboratories,”400–401 (ref. 10). Dana Arenius and Venkatarao Ganni interview with Catherine Westfall, May 24, 2012.

  38. Dana Arenius, private communication, April 1, 2013.

  39. Ibid.

  40. Dana Arenius and Venkatarao Ganni, “1982–1999 Cryogenic History,” June 25, 2012.

  41. John Mammosser, “Status Report: SRF Activities at CEBAF,” Proceedings of the 6 th Workshop on RF Superconductivity, October 8 Newport News, VA 2 (1993), 947–949.

  42. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Wesfall, May 8, 2000. Claus Rode, private communication, September 21, 2012.

  43. Rode, “CEBAF Cryogenic System” (ref. 18).

  44. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, May 8, 2000. Rode, “CEBAF Cryogenic System” (ref. 18).

  45. Claus Rode, private communication, June 25, 2013.

  46. Dana Arenius and Venkatarao Ganni interview with Catherine Westfall, May 24, 2012.

  47. After he was hired, Ganni helped Kashy fix breaking and leaking valve stems in the CHL transfer line system that supplied helium to the cryomodules. This was an important project because every time a valve failed the 2K and 4K refrigerators had to be shut down to allow repair of the valve; if left unfixed the resulting down time would have prevented steady accelerator operation. Dana Arenius and Venkatarao Ganni interview with Catherine Westfall, May 24, 2012; David Kashy, private communication, February 21, 2013.

  48. By raising the HX-9A saturation pressure using the back pressure control valve and the thermal link to HX-10, the HX-9A back pressure is gradually reduced as the pumpdown progresses. Dana Arenius and Venkatarao Ganni interview with Catherine Westfall, May 24, 2012.

  49. Dana Arenius and Venkatarao Ganni interview with Catherine Westfall, May 24, 2012. SSC Cryo Notes 92-12, R. Than et al.“The SSC Cryogenic System Design and Operating Modes.” Capacity Adjustment, Efficiency and Gas Management Scheme 72–74, Oct. 1992. The author thanks Venkatarao Ganni for this document.

  50. Dana Arenius and Venkatarao Ganni interview with Catherine Westfall, May 24, 2012.

  51. Ibid.

  52. There were other problems. For example, JLab cryogenics engineers realized during commissioning that during startup the flow rate required to keep the cold compressors stable is twice the operating flow rate. The cold box and warm compressors weren’t designed to run at 200% full flow. They therefore minimize that effect by adjusting the temperature in the 4K sub cooler as per Ganni’s proposal. So instead of running at 4.5K they ran the helium back pressure of the sub-cooler at 5.5K to reduce the density of the helium to the cold compressors so that the volumetric flow rate would be maintained with less mass flow rate. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, July 11, 2012.

  53. V Ganni et al., “Operational Modes and Control Philosophy of the SSCL Magnet Test Lab (MTL) Cryogenic System” Supercollider 5 (Plenum Press, New York, 1994), 921–930.

  54. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, July 11, 2012; David Kashy, private communication, September 20, 2012; Dana Arenius and Venkatarao Ganni interview with Catherine Westfall, May 24, 2012. Rode, “CEBAF Cryogenic System” (ref. 18).

  55. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, July 11, 2012.

  56. Venkatarao Ganni, private communication, April 1, 2013.

  57. For a full account of the design and many challenges of the 2K cold box see Venkatarao Ganni et al., “Design, Fabrication, Commissioning and Testing of a 250 g/s, 2-K Helium Cold Compressor System,” Advances in Cryogenic Engineering 47 (2002), 288–304. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, July 11, 2012. Rode, “CEBAF Cryogenic System” (ref. 18).

  58. Dana Arenius and Venkatarao Ganni interview with Catherine Westfall, May 24, 2012. Claus Rode, private communication, June 25, 2013.

  59. Arenius and Ganni, “1982–1999 Cryogenic History” (ref. 40); Rode, “CEBAF Cryogenic System” (ref. 18).

  60. Dana Arenius and Venkatarao Ganni, private communication, July 13, 2012. Arenius and Ganni, “1982–1999 Cryogenic History” (ref. 40).

  61. Ibid..

  62. Claus Rode, private communication, June 12, 2013; Arenius and Ganni, “1982–1999 Cryogenic History” (ref. 40); Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, July 11, 2012.

  63. Claus Rode interview with Catherine Westfall, July 11, 2012.

  64. Venkatarao Ganni, private communication, April 30, 2013.

  65. Venkatarao Ganni, private communication, July 1, 2013.

  66. In addition to Chronis, Arenius, Ganni, and Kashy, from the mid-1990s the group included Joe Wilson (Mechanical Engineer/Operations Supervisor); Marie Keesee, (Electrical/Controls Engineer); Richard Brown (Lead Mechanical Designer); Thomas Reid (Lead Electrical Designer); Michael Zarecky (Mechanical Designer); James Diehl (Mechanical Technician Supervisor); Buddy Carlton (Electrical/Controls Technician); John Hansknecht (Electrical/Controls Technician); Lambert Yarington (Electrical/Controls Technician); Garry Justice (Electrical/Controls Technician); Ernie Ernsting (Vacuum Technician); Tina Menefee (Mechanical Technician); Pat William (Mechanical Technician); Scott Thompson (Mechanical Technician); Bill Hunewill (Mechanical Technician): Issac Snowburg (Mechanical Engineer).

  67. Dana Arenius and Venkatarao Ganni, private communication, July 13, 2012; Higinbotham et al., New Insights into the Structure of Matter, chapter 15, 16–17 (ref. 1).

  68. Dana Arenius and Venkatarao Ganni, private communication, July 13, 2012.

  69. US patent 7,409,834.

  70. V. Ganni, P. Knudsen, “Optimal Design and Operation of Helium Refrigeration Systems Using the Ganni Cycle,” Advances in Cryogenic Engineering 55 (2010),1057–1071.

  71. V Ganni et al, “Operational Modes and Control Philosophy of the SSCL Magnet Test Lab (MTL) Cryogenic System,” Supercollider 5 (Plenum Press: New York, 1994), 921–930.

  72. For more on the Ganni Cycle, see Ganni et al., “Optimal Design”(ref. 70). Arenius and Ganni, “1982–1999 Cryogenic History” (ref. 40).

  73. Lawrence Cardman, private communication, February 14, 2013; Higinbotham et al., New Insights into the Structure of Matter, chapter 15, p. 17 (ref. 1).

  74. The NASA 20K helium refrigeration system for the James Webb project and the 12 GeV system are designed with matched pressure ratios between the cold box and the compressor systems to take the full advantage of the Ganni Cycle Floating Pressure Technology to automatically support a load from full to one third of the maximum capacity at near constant Carnot efficiency (or constant watt of input power per a watt of refrigeration capacity). R. Than, et al, “The RHIC Cryogenic System at BNL; Review of the Modifications and Upgrades Since 2002 and Planned Improvement,” Advances in Cryogenic Engineering 53 (2008), 578–587; P. Arnold, “Large Scale Helium Refrigeration Plant for Ground Testing the James Webb Telescope at NASA-JSC,” Advances in Cryogenic Engineering, 55 (2010), 1080–1086; J. Homan et al, “Floating Pressure Conversion and Equipment Upgrade of Two 3.5 kW 20K Helium Refrigerators,” Advances in Cryogenic Engineering, 55 (2010), 207–214.

  75. Arenius and Ganni, “1982–1999 Cryogenic History” (ref. 40).

  76. Ibid.

  77. Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, “Office of the Federal Environmental Executive Announces 2007 White House Closing The Circle Award Winners, Earth Day, 2007. http://www.fedcenter.gov/_kd/Items/actions.cfm?action=Show&item_id=6887&destination=ShowItem, last accessed February 6, 2013.

  78. CHL engineers called themselves “integrators” because they provided the knowledge to bridge the gap between what the users needed (even though they did not always know how to articulate that) and vendor-produced equipment. Dana Arenius and Venkatarao Ganni, private communication, August 7, 2013.

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Acknowledgments

This article was written for Jefferson Science Associates, LLC under US DOE Contract No. DE-AC05-06OR23177. The author received support for the interviews in this article from a grant-in-aid from the Friends of the Center for History of Physics, American Institute of Physics. The US Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce this manuscript for US Government purposes. The author wishes to thank Dana Arenius, Lawrence Cardman, Venkatarao Ganni, David Kashy, and Claus Rode for much technical information and assistance. She also wants to thank Peter Pesic and Robert Crease for their patience and astute editing.

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  1. Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48825-2207, USA

    Catherine Westfall

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Correspondence to Catherine Westfall.

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Catherine Westfall, a Visiting Associate Professor at Michigan State University, has written numerous publications on the history of national laboratories including co-authored books on the development of the first atomic bombs at Los Alamos and the history of Fermilab.

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Westfall, C. Engineering the Big Chill: The Story of JLab’s Central Helium Liquefier. Phys. Perspect. 16, 37–68 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-014-0127-7

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