Dissecting an LHC dipole

The cold mass of a 15-metre main dipole magnet has some fifteen different components. All the main components are manufactured under CERN's direct responsibility. Four of them transit through CERN before being shipped to the dipole assembly contractors, namely the cable, which constitutes the magnet's superconducting core (see Bulletin 14/2004), the beam screens, the heat exchanger tubes and the cold bore beam tubes. The two latter components transit via Building 927 where they undergo part of the production process. The 58-mm diameter heat exchanger tubes will remove heat from the magnets using superfluid helium. The 53-mm diameter cold bore tubes will be placed under vacuum to allow the twin beams to circulate around the LHC.