Short Circuit Tests: First Step of LHC Hardware Commissioning Completion

For the two counter rotating beams in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) about 8000 magnets (main dipole and quadrupole magnets, corrector magnets, separation dipoles, matching section quadrupoles etc.) are powered in about 1500 superconducting electrical circuits. The magnets are powered by power converters that have been designed for the LHC with a current between 60 and 13000A. Between October 2005 and September 2007 the so-called Short Circuit Tests were carried-out in 15 underground zones where the power converters of the superconducting circuits are placed. The tests aimed to qualify the normal conducting equipments of the circuits such as power converters and normal conducting high current cables. The correct operation of interlock and energy extraction systems was validated. The infrastructure systems including AC distribution, water and air cooling and the control systems was also commissioned. In this paper the results of the two year test campaign are summarized with particular attention to problems encountered and how they were solved.