Return to Fermilab's Chain
of Accelerators (movie clip)
Fermilab's Chain of Accelerators
Accelerator Details: the Proton Source
Return to Accelerator Details Main
Page
The Tevatron was the world's first superconducting synchrotron. It first came into operation in 1983. There are about 1000 superconducting magnets in the
Tevatron.
The coils are made of niobuim-titanium alloy wire.
The size of the wire is 0.0003 inches (8 mm)
There are 11 million wire-turns in a coil.
The dipole magnet is 21 feet long
There are 42,500 miles of wire in a magnet
The current flowing through a magnet at 980 GeV is more than 4000 Amperes.
For 980 GeV collider operation, the magnets are kept at 4.3 Kelvin.
Cross section of a Tevatron magnet.
Stock pile of Tevatron magnets before installation into the tunnel
Superconducting wire has absolutely no resistance. A magnet with
superconducting coils dissipates no electrical power. This saves an enormous amount of electrical power over what would be required if the Tevatron had been built with conventional iron-copper-water cooled coils.
Power is needed to keep the magnets cold, at liquid helium temperature. This power is about 13 MW.
The magnetic field in the magnets at 980 GeV is 4.2 Tesla -- for comparison The Earth’s magnetic field is 0.0003 Tesla
The magnetic field in the conventional magnets in the Fermilab Main Ring when it ran at 400 GeV (in the 1970's) was 1.8 Tesla.
The magnets in CERN's LHC will run at 8.4 Tesla.
The TEVATRON Cryogenic System
The cryogenic cooling system is the largest cryogenic system in the world. It is capable of supplying 1000 liters/hour (35 grams/sec) of liquid helium at 4.2 K. and capable of absorbing heat at a rate of 23 kW and still maintain a temperature of 4.6 K.
The cryogenic system consists of a: Central Helium Liquifier which consists of four 4000 hp helium compressors (flow rate of 539 g/sec at 175 psi) two 40 ft tall cold boxes
helium gas tank farm with 30,000 liquid liter equivalent storage capacity a nitrogen system with a 152,000 liter storage capacity
and 24 satellite refrigerators located around the ring which are connected by twenty six 250 meter long liquid helium transfer lines which are fed helium gas at 290 psi.
Central Helium Compressors Cryogenic Distribution Box
Circular machines, the Lorentz force and how synchrotrons work Link to the Beams Division Tevatron Department
Questions? Contact Ernie Malamud rev. August 16, 2000
