Beam Induced Ferrite Heating of the LHC Injection Kickers and Proposals for Improved Cooling

The two LHC injection kicker systems produce an integrated field strength of 1.3 T·m with a flattop duration variable up to 7860 ns, and rise and fall times of less than 900 ns and 3000 ns, respectively. A beam screen is placed in the aperture of each magnet, which consists of a ceramic tube with conductors in the inner wall. The conductors provide a path for the beam image current and screen the ferrite yoke against wakefields. Recent LHC operation, with high intensity beam stable for many hours, resulted in significant heating of both the ferrite yoke and beam impedance reduction ferrites. For one kicker magnet the ferrite yoke approached its Curie temperature. As a result of a long thermal time-constant the ferrite yoke can require several hours to cool sufficiently to allow re-injection of beam, thus limiting the running efficiency of the LHC. Thermal measurement data has been analysed, a thermal model developed and emissivity measurements carried out. Various measures to improve the ferrite cooling have been simulated, including an improved emissivity of the vacuum tank and active cooling on the outside of the tank.