Towards a Consolidation of LHC Superconducting Splices for 7 TeV Operation

Following the analysis of the September 2008 LHC incident, the assembly process and the quality assurance of the main 13 kA interconnection splices were improved, with new measurement and diagnostics methods introduced. During the 2008-2009 shutdown ~5% of these 10 000 splices were newly assembled with these improvements implemented, but essentially maintaining the original design. It is known today that a limiting factor towards 7 TeV operation is the normal conducting resistance of ~15% of the original main 13 kA interconnection splices, associated to the electrical continuity of the copper stabiliser. A “Splices Task Force” has been set up at CERN to evaluate the need for, develop and test design improvements and prepare the implementation of a consolidation campaign. Important issues of splice design, process choice, resources and time requirements are considered.