Design and Fabrication of FRESCA2 Cryostat

In the framework of the High Field Magnet activities, a new FRESCA2 test station (Facility for Reception of Superconducting Cables 2) was designed and fabricated at CERN to measure superconducting cables in background magnetic fields. This new facility relies on a Nb3Sn dipole magnet for generating a field of 13 T at temperatures in the range from 1.9 K to 50 K. The requirement to perform measurements twice a week entailed a double cryostat nested solution. TE-MSC prepared a functional specification including cryogenic processes and operation parameters for the nested cryostats; then gave mandate to EN-MME for the detailed design, fabrication and assembly. All MME services contributed to the project to face challenges brought by the electromechanical design of FRESCA2: advanced calculations following Pressure Equipment Directive PED standards), mechanical and cryogenic design, fabrication of large vacuum and pressure vessels with full QA-QC of the welding processes (including vacuum and pressure tests), high precision machining of large components and subassemblies, subcontracting, qualification of specific coating and metrology of components, complex assembly and manipulations with the support of EN-HE, integration of cryogenic (TE-CRG) and mechanical instrumentation. The paper reports all these activities.