In science, it’s rare that a revolutionary new theory is not preceded by groundbreaking experiments. More often than not, the timing of such experiments has depended on prior advancements in technology and engineering.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, where the critical experiments to find the Higgs boson were conducted, depended for its success on advances in superconducting magnet technology, with its attendant cryogenic thermal engineering challenges. The LHC produces elementary particles, such as the Higgs boson, as a result of the collision of two beams of protons. In order for the colliding beams of protons to achieve a high enough velocity to be able to liberate the Higgs boson, it is necessary to have stronger magnetic fields than ever before. The scale of implementation of superconducting magnet technology is awe inspiring. The reference below provides a wealth of technical details in this regard.
A key component in the toolkit of the cryogenic engineer is the use of vacuum-insulated vessels to minimize heat transfer from the ambient environment to the liquid helium bath surrounding the magnet. Hence a lot of their efforts are devoted to the design and construction of these enclosures.
In September, 2008, a disaster happened during the initial operational tests of the LHC. It occurred when a power supply malfunction led to arcing, which perforated the wall of the vacuum jacket surrounding two magnets and their liquid helium baths. This led to the rupture of these enclosures and rapid release of tonnes of liquid helium with explosive force. This resulted in damage to 50 magnets and their mounting structures. The event necessitated the manufacture and installation of replacement magnets, leading to a delay in the LHC achieving full operational status for a full year.
Normally, for thermal engineers working in more conventional electronics cooling environments, when their design goes awry, the end result is not nearly so dramatic. There may be a cooked chip or PCB. If there is liquid cooling being used, there may be a burst pipe, but nothing on this scale.
However, even our more conventional designs are dependent on the soundness of the engineering of other parts of the total system, for them to perform as intended in the field. For example, a carefully characterized thermal interface material, that was supposed to provide a low-thermal-resistance path from a high-power processor to a heat sink, is dependent on the design of other components and a careful assembly process in order to maintain the required contact force for successful operation over the lifetime of the product.
The story of the mishap at the LHC has a moral for all of us in that we live in a very interdependent world of engineering. It’s critical in product development that we fully understand any risks relating to a malfunction in one part of the system precipitating failure in other parts, leading to even more calamitous consequences. We should all do our part to promote cross-discipline discussions to ensure that these risks are fully anticipated and successfully managed.
[Reference: Wikipedia — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider]
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My esteemed colleague and friend, Clemens Lasance, announced his decision to resign from the editorial staff several issues ago. However, he generously stayed on until we remaining editors were able to engage a worthy successor. We have now completed that process.
I’d like to take advantage of this opportunity to thank Clemens for his many contributions to this publication. Over the nearly two decades since the founding of ElectronicsCooling, he has been its most outspoken face to the public in advocating approaches to thermal engineering that he believes to be the right ones. We will miss his passion and intellect and wish him the best in his future endeavors. We are hoping to have the pleasure of publishing an occasional piece from him in his new role as emeritus editor.
I’m pleased to announce that Dr. Peter Rodgers has now joined us on the editorial staff. Peter has had a distinguished career in thermal engineering. He is currently an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, UAE. He has held prior positions as the University of Limerick, University of Maryland, and Nokia Research. He is an active participant in the major thermal conferences in the US and Europe and has received a number of awards recognizing his contributions to thermal engineering. We look forward to working with Peter to find even better ways of providing you, our readers, with practical technical information and analysis that is of lasting value.
-Bruce Guenin
