Abstract
| Starting from 2022, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN will be shut down to increase the luminosity of the machine. One of the main interventions will be inserting more performing low-β quadrupoles, called MQXF, in the interaction points. The US is involved in this activity with the US HL-LHC Accelerator Upgrade Project (AUP), and is responsible of the production and test of the Q1 and Q3 cryo-assemblies (each one containing two 4.2-m magnets in a single cold mass) of the triplet. After completing the US short model phase, the prototyping phase has started with MQXFAP1 (1st prototype, 4m long) test at the Brookhaven National Laboratory vertical test facility. However, after the magnet reached nominal current, a short-to-ground event stopped the test when the magnet was at 97.5% of acceptance current. In this paper, an analysis of this event is presented. We present how the short event can be modeled, and we base our conclusions on simulations and experimental evidence, trying to explain the mechanism that led to the short-to-ground formation. The short-to-ground has occurred in a coil that was known to have a previous coil-to-heater short. Therefore, we explain the connection between these two events, the possible risks for the future magnets, and how to prevent this issue from happening again in the series magnets. |