How to obtain a good thermal and mechanical bonding between Copper alloys (e.g. CuCrZr) and pure W ?

Particle physics applications often necessitate the use of high-density materials, such as tungsten (W). Pure tungsten is commonly preferred due to its superior long-term radiation damage resistance compared to more ductile tungsten alloys. These materials are subjected to operational conditions that can involve high temperatures and thermally induced stresses, resulting in significant thermal energy generation within the bulk material, potentially reaching hundreds of kilowatts. As a result, it is crucial to engineer a solution with sound thermo-mechanical properties and an efficient cooling system.

Establishing efficient bonding between pure tungsten and copper alloys, possibly through methods like diffusion bonding, emerges as a promising technological approach for designing high-power beam-intercepting devices. This avenue is one that CERN’s STI-TCD section is eager to explore.

Can we prepare (polish and cut?) pure silicon wafers to micro-rad tolerance?

Silicon crystal strips can be used in particle physics to capture and steer beam particles. The performance of these crystals depends on their properties, particularly the miscut of the crystal lattice with respect to the wafer surface face. This miscut should be < 10 micro-rad, and as close to zero as possible, requiring dedicated measurement and polishing systems to achieve this. We are searching for partners that can produce such polished wafers and then as an extension, cut these wafers into strips with dimension tolerances to 50 um, and polish the side faces to a mirror finish.

How to Measure Vibrations from Nanometric to Millimetric Scales Without Active Electronics at the Measurement Location?

For many challenging application in industry and research, it is fundamental to track and measure kinematic behaviour in terms of displacement, speed, and acceleration, for example at CERN when accelerator machines interact with particle beams at various energies. We are currently seeking companies capable of proposing instrumentation for the acquisition of these quantities. The unique requirement for the instrumentation is that the electronics should be relocated to dedicated locations tens of meters away from the experimental area where the actual measurements take place.

How to develop rotatory joints for robotic arms that can sustain external magnetic disturbance?

Robots are highly effective platforms for intervention and monitoring in harsh, hostile environments where human safety would be at risk. However, conventional robotic platforms cannot operate in high magnetic field environments, such as particle accelerators, nuclear facilities, and power plants, using electric actuators, and magnetically sensitive encoders. We are searching for a novel actuator with integrated encoder which operates in magnetic fields of at least 300mT (500mt/m gradients), is not attracted toward the magnet, and is large enough, powerful and accurate enough to use in a typically sized robot arm.

Is it viable to utilize CO2 at room temperature to provide heating and cooling for Air Handling Units?

One of CERN’s primary objectives is to transition towards sustainable solutions. Considering that a significant portion of its energy consumption is attributed to cooling processes, a key strategic initiative involves identifying a more efficient and environmentally friendly solution for cooling and recovering waste heat.
CO2 as a heat transfer fluid stands out as a promising candidate, given its high-pressure natural fluid properties that have proven effective in cooling particle detectors. Moreover, the increasing adoption of CO2 in industrial and commercial refrigeration and heating systems, driven by its low global warming potential and recent technological advancements, foresees a promising future.
An alternative approach to optimize waste heat management in HVAC applications involves integrating CO2-based heat transport for long distances at room temperature with local reversible heat pumps utilizing CO2 or other natural refrigerants. This method has the potential to utilize the same network to transfer both cold and waste heat to desired locations more efficiently than using water, thereby optimizing the overall efficiency of heat and cold production and transportation.
Design and build Air Handling Units with integrated heat pump that use CO2 coils to regulate the air temperature in various buildings with complementary needs would be a great opportunity to assess the efficiency gains of this solution compared to current practices.

How to replace F-GAS chillers by natural refrigerant chillers?

CERNs operation implies the use of more than 200 chillers using F-gases. The chillers are standard air and water cooled units in the temperature range 5-15 °C with cooling capacities in the range 25 kW to 2.5 MW.
Following the F-GAS phase down in line with the Kigali amendment, CERN wishes to investigate the gradual replacement of existing chillers by units using natural refrigerants such as propane and CO2.
Considering the design differences and restrictions for natural refrigerant chillers, what are the possible natural refrigerant chillers alternatives, the solutions for replacement and the required changes to the chiller plants’ layout and configuration?

6257: How to create common grounds for Big Sience simulation code development?

6444: How can Sweden support the development of control environments and loops for complex and heterogeneous instrumentation?

6257: One of the big challenges of CERN and other Big Science facilities is the coordination of simulation codes. Individuals have over time often developed complex underdocumented software that does not follow industry standard, and whose expertise stays with the creator. The wheel is reinvented far too often. We request synergies for documented version-controlled code that new employees and students easily can use and contribute to, with a short learning curve. Swedish industry has enormous potential to help Big Science facilities in this situation.

6444: Controls
o Industrial controls
o Software developments

The FAIR facility will be built using a variety of different industrial control components to be used in the UNICOS software framework, that is also in use at CERN. We would like to set up a network for individual soft- and hardware developments for individual solutions.

How to realise the septum magnet beyond the magnetic field strength limit of the conventional septum magnet technology?

For the high energy accelerator or some of the next generation medical accelerators, most of the synchrotron magnets are adapted a superconducting cosine-theta type design.
However, for the septum magnets, which are required at a beam injection or extraction region, only iron-dominated magnets with a limitation of the magnetic field strength about 1.6 T exist.
GSI’s conceptual design studies have revealed that the novel truncated cosine-theta type septum magnet will be able to generate a higher magnetic field.
Therefore, GSI superconducting magnet department is hoping to prove the concept with a demonstrator magnet.
As the first step, it can be realised possibly with a normal-conducting or a small scale prototype magnet.
In case of a superconducting prototype, the engineering design including the cooling and the mechanics would become exciting challenges.
The superconducting truncated cosine-theta septum magnets would enable space- and energy-saving high energy and/or medical accelerator designs in future.

What can Sweden contribute in enabling ion transport under high density conditions?

Fine-pitch printed circuit boards for ion transport in next generation high density stopping cells.
Transporting ions in a very dense gaseous media is a challenge. For example, in order to stop, thermalize and extract a relativistic exotic beam with high efficiency in the millisecond range, a dense gaseous medium is needed, a high density stopping cell, where the ions need to be guided towards an extraction region. Also, in experiments in search for the neutrino-less double-beta decay which employ a gaseous target and detector, the transport of ions towards an accumulation region in a very high-dense medium will help to enable background-free experiments, setting new frontiers for such a very exotic decay. Transporting ions under high density conditions involves the need of small structure sizes in order guide the ions towards a collection point or an extraction region and the need to generate high voltage (hundreds of volts) and high frequency (tens of MHz) signals which then drive the structure. If the element transporting the ions is planar and typically manufactured using printed circuit boards (PCB), then is called a radio frequency (RF) carpet. The ones employed in stopping cells around the world are typically manufactured employing current state-of-the-art PCB technology, achieving small structures sizes (pitches of ∼ 250 um) in a monolithic structure. For future high density stopping cells and other experiments where transport of ions over RF carpets occur at very high pressures, standard PCB manufacturing techniques used for mass production do not fulfill the demanding needs of smaller structure size (pitches < 150 um, aspect-ratio interconnects > 1:20…) in a large area (> 0.5 m^2). Also, decreasing the structure size increases the complexity of driving the RF carpet (higher capacitance, higher power density…), where commercial amplifiers struggle to perform the required duty. Swedish PCB manufacturers and RF amplifier companies are encouraged to present their capabilities for producing PCBs beyond current capabilities as well as for designing and producing custom tailored RF amplifier solutions.

How can Sweden help GSI to develop a cost effective system design using COTS with dedicated interface adaptations for a high performant data acquisition system?

Experiments in our facility are carried out at several data acquisition stations (DAQ) on campus, distributed over a few 100m to km in distance between them. These stations shall be coupled with a fiber based network. Measuring velocities in sufficient precision put demands on the achievable time resolution, typically in the range of a few 10 to 0.1 ns. These can be achieved by setting up a precision time distribution system based on the white rabbit technology of CERN, that we are actively supporting in developments. GSI can provide a multiple set of FPGA based time measurement devices with achieved resolutions below 10ps for individual detector channels. Setting up a complete DAQ system requires affordable hardware based on COTS (components of the shelf) with suitable adapter boards in order to interface to DAQ stations and detector stations.
We envisage the system design of these DAQ stations, their components, firmware and software for operation in an industrial context.

How can Sweden help GSI in the development of components for remote operated devices in harsh environments?

The Super-FRS at FAIR will be one of the most powerful separators for the production of intense secondary isotopes at relativistic velocities far from the line of stability. The exotic beams will be used in experiments aiming at understanding nuclear structure phenomena at the extremes and astrophysics scenarios. The production of these beams takes place at a target area where the intense primary beams of the SIS18/100 synchrotrons of FAIR will be broken up. Particular Fragments will be selected and the remaining intensity will form a radioactive environment in beam catchers, instrumentation and shielding of the target area. The handling of target and instrumentation is foreseen and a overall handling concept has been worked out. It is based on a heavily shielded flask for crane operation, which will take place in the target area and at a hot cell complex of FAIR. This concepts needs to be detailed in view of the interior and interface design of the hot cell, and the specification and provision of industrial robots for remote handling at different places dealing with the plug inserts housing different instrumentation types in the associated vacuum chambers.

6257: How to create common grounds for Big Sience simulation code development?

6444: How can Sweden support the development of control environments and loops for complex and heterogeneous instrumentation?

6257: One of the big challenges of CERN and other Big Science facilities is the coordination of simulation codes. Individuals have over time often developed complex underdocumented software that does not follow industry standard, and whose expertise stays with the creator. The wheel is reinvented far too often. We request synergies for documented version-controlled code that new employees and students easily can use and contribute to, with a short learning curve. Swedish industry has enormous potential to help Big Science facilities in this situation.

6444: Controls
o Industrial controls
o Software developments

The FAIR facility will be built using a variety of different industrial control components to be used in the UNICOS software framework, that is also in use at CERN. We would like to set up a network for individual soft- and hardware developments for individual solutions.