Preliminary Mechanical Design of a Superconducting Magnet “Canted-Cosine-Theta (CCT)” for a New Gantry for Hadron Therapy

Hadron therapy is a medical treatment that uses carbon ions and protons to cure cancer. Carbon ions are really promising for radioresistant tumours, but their use is limited by the size and cost of the necessary infrastructure. An essential element of the infrastructure is the gantry, which significantly improves treatment effectiveness but can weigh hundreds of tons and cost around 25% of the total cost of the facility. A huge contribution to the weight of the gantry is due to the dipole magnets. This thesis reports a complete preliminary mechanical design based on a new superconducting magnet layout, which may drastically reduce the gantry’s weight and cost: the Canted-Cosine-Theta (CCT). The thesis starts by explaining why hadron therapy is more effective than traditional treatments, the European collaborations providing the frame of this thesis activity, their scope and why the CCT magnet can help make the gantry cheaper and lighter. The thesis continues by showing the methods that permit an efficient generation of the magnet’s geometry by CAD software. The work continues exposing the first mechanical design evaluated, how it was improved and the obtained results. The thesis concludes by explaining how to machine and assemble the magnet and its mechanical structure.