Collimateur integration and installation: Example of one object to be installed in the LHC

The collimation system is a vital part of the LHC project, protecting the accelerator against unavoidable regular and irregular beam loss. About 80 collimators will be installed in the machine before the first run. Two insertion regions are dedicated to collimation and these regions will be among the most radioactive in the LHC. The space available in the collimation regions is very restricted, it was therefore important to ensure that the 3-D integration of these areas of the LHC tunnel would allow straightforward installation of collimators and also exchange of collimators under the remote handling constraints imposed by high radiation levels. The paper describes the 3-D integration studies and verifications of the collimation regions combining the restricted space available, the dimensions of the different types of collimators and the space needed for transport and handling. The paper explains how installation has been planned and carried out taking into account the handling.