Design and Operation of the PandaX-4T High Speed Ultra-high Purity Xenon Recuperation System

TL;DR

This paper presents the design and operation of a high-speed, ultra-high purity xenon recuperation system for the PandaX-4T dark matter detector, enabling safe and efficient recovery of xenon gas in emergency or end-of-run situations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel recuperation system integrating heat management, pipelines, and automatic control to ensure rapid, safe, and pure xenon recovery from large-scale dark matter detectors.

Findings

Achieved a flow rate of 200 SLPM for xenon recovery.

Maintained low pressure and temperature conditions during recuperation.

Ensured xenon purity with no contamination during process.

Abstract

In order to recuperate the ultra-high purity xenon from PandaX-4T dark matter detector to high-pressure gas cylinders in emergency or at the end-of-run situation, a high speed ultra-high purity xenon recuperation system is designed and developed. This system includes a diaphragm pump, the heat management system, the main recuperation pipeline, the reflux pipeline, the auxiliary recuperation pipeline and the automatic control system. The liquid xenon in the detector is vaporized by the heat management system, and the gaseous xenon is compressed to 6 MPa at the flow rate of 200 standard litres per minute (SLPM) using the diaphragm compressor. The high-pressure xenon is filled into 128 gas cylinders via the main recuperation pipeline. During the recuperation, the low pressure and temperature conditions of 2 ~ 3 atmospheres and 178 ~ 186.5 K in PandaX-4T dark matter detector are kept by the cooperation of the main recuperation pipeline, reflux pipeline and the auxiliary recuperation pipeline to guarantee the safety, and the purity of the recuperated xenon gas is measured to ensure no contamination happened. The development of the high speed ultra-high purity xenon recuperation system is important for the operation of large-scale dark matter detectors with the requirements of strict temperature and pressure environment and low background.