Photo: Contract signature with Linde Kryotechnik for the cryogenics part of the HL-LHC project. More photos can be found here.

CERN and contractor Linde Kryotechnik (CH) has signed the contract for the supply of two helium refrigerators for the HL-LHC project. These helium refrigerators are to be installed at CERN, next to the two major LHC experiments.

One will be installed near the ATLAS experiment (LHC Point 1) at the Meyrin CERN site in Switzerland, and the other will be installed near the CMS detector (LHC Point 5) in Cessy, France.

Each refrigeration system will have a capacity of 14 kilowatts equivalent at 4.5 Kelvin including specifically 3.25 kilowatts at 1.9 Kelvin (-271 °C), which is close to absolute zero. This additional cooling capacity is required for the High-Luminosity upgrade to the LHC.

The contract includes installation, commissioning and testing at CERN.