Design and testing of the New Muon Lab cryogenic system at Fermilab

TL;DR

This paper details the design, construction, and initial testing of Fermilab's New Muon Lab cryogenic system, which supports superconducting cryomodule testing for accelerator research.

Contribution

It presents the first implementation and commissioning results of a new cryogenic infrastructure for superconducting RF tests at Fermilab.

Findings

Successful initial cooling and testing of a Type III plus cryomodule

Cryogenic system achieves 2 K operations with purification support

Outline of future phases with expanded cryogenic capacity

Abstract

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is constructing a superconducting 1.3 GHz cryomodule test facility located at the New Muon Lab building. The facility will be used for testing and validating cryomodule designs as well as support systems. For the initial phase of the project, a single Type III plus 1.3 GHz cryomodule will be cooled and tested using a single Tevatron style standalone refrigerator. Subsequent phases involve testing as many as two full RF units consisting of up to six 1.3 GHz cryomodules with the addition of a new cryogenic plant. The cryogenic infrastructure consists of the refrigerator system, cryogenic distribution system as well as an ambient temperature pumping system to achieve 2 K operations with supporting purification systems. A discussion of the available capacity for the various phases versus the proposed heat loads is included as well as commissioning results and testing schedule. This paper describes the plans, status and challenges of this initial phase of the New Muon Lab cryogenic system.