R&D for the local support and cooling channel for the ATLAS Pixel Insertable B-Layer (IBL)

The Pixel Detector is a Silicon Vertex Tracker installed into the ATLAS Experiment on the LHC at CERN. A new internal Pixel layer will be installed inside the existing three, in the space between the actual B-Layer and a new smaller beam-pipe. The Physics performances will be enhanced due to the smaller radius, and the presence of a fourth layer will give to the Pixel Detector a bigger redundancy and reliability. After a description of the project scope and of the relevant requirements, the work in progress on the design, FEM analyses, experimental prototyping, measurements and tests for the R&D are presented.