First Xenon Liquefaction at Nantes by using Pulse Tube Cryocooler

Workshop FJPPL’07, 9-12 May 2007, KEK, Japan

Tom Haruyama (KEK)

Eric Morteau, Patrick Le Ray, Cyril GrignonNoel Servagent, Jean-Pierre CussonneauDominique Thers(Nantes)

D_R&D_6 Liquid xenon detector technology

…following Dominique’s talk….

1. LXe PET cryogenic system at Nantes

2. Pulse Tube Cryocooler Development at KEK

3. First xenon liquefaction at Nantes

4. Application to other Liquid Xenon Experiments

5. Summary and plan for this year

Liquid xenon - any specialties in cryogenic?

Physical Property of Xe

Property LXe (saturated)

LN2 (saturated)

T(K): temperature at 0.1 MPa(kg/m3): density at 0.1 MPa

lv(kJ/kg): latent heat (liquid)/massLv(kJ/L): latent heat (liquid)/volumels(kJ/kg): latent heat (solid)/massLs(kJ/L): latent heat (solid)/volume

Triple point

164.782947

95.82821.23.5

161.36 K0.0815 MPa

77.24807

199.016128.422.9

63.148 K0.0125 MPa

…How to cool ?

Cooling method – Mechanical refrigerator-

Specially, Pulse Tube Cryocooler:

Advantages: -Just switch on! For… -Precise temperature and pressure control, -LN2-Free operation -Quiet, maintenance free for years’ operation

Cooling power requirement: -up to ~200W @165-170K Developed at KEK

KEK-developed High-Power Pulse tube Cryocooler

Cool i ng power (PC150)

0

50

100

150

200

50 100 150 200

Col d end temperature(K)

Cooling power (W)

Qi wa(W)Qpsi (W)

-Cooling power achieved ~70W @165K-Technology Transferred for upgrading to 200W

KEK-Iwatani PC150

First Xenon liquefaction at Nantes, March-April 2007

General set-up

LO

AD

ING

TA

NK

V1

V2 V3

Cryostat

Pump3

V15

V4

V5

RESCUE TANK

Area 1

Area 2

Area 4

0.4m

V8

REG1

N1

V7

T3

Pump1

M

Comp1

M

V1w

T6

T5

T1 T2

T4

T4 T2

T1 T5

ZA

ZA

P4 DR1

V3p

R5

PM2

P1

MESSER V2m

V5m

V6m

V8m

V9m

V7m

V10m

V3m

V4m

V1m V11m

V12m

Port 1

V1p

M Port 3

D1

SAES

V2s

V3s

B

A

A

B

VEP1

B1 R2

M

P2 V6

V9 V10

V11

V12

V13 P3

V2p Port 2

V14

Pump2

P5 Area 3

8m

1m

V1s

M1

T7

R3

R1

R4

V2w

N2

V2w

1.6 Bars Maxi

P2&P3 >1.4 Bars

PM1

MA

IN T

AN

K 2

V16

M2

N3

MA

IN T

AN

K 1

NRV1

V18

P6

V17

FP2

FP1

0.1 bar<P4<0.9bar

VEP2

Xenon gas main tank with LN2 vessel

Gas purification panel

Experimental chamber with a pulse tube cryocooler

Pulse tube cryocooler

Helium compressor

On-site計測パネル

ＬａｂＶＩＥＷパネル

Temperature profile during pre-cooling

Pressure profile during pre-cooling

Liquid xenon level profile6L Liquefaction

Steady state

1 day

Liquid xenon temperature and pressure profile (steady state)

Temperature profile

Pressure profile

Now, this PT cryocooler is ready for extended scientific experiments, MEG, XENON10,…

Final MEG LXe Calorimeter

•800 liter LXe detector with 850 PMTs•Total heat load: 130 W at 165 K

XENON10 Experiment for Dark Matter search

in Gran Sasso underground

Summary

First xenon liquefaction at Nantes by Pulse Tube Cryocooler: -2-day pre-cooling and 12 hours for 6 litters liquefaction -3-day steady operation without any instability

Confirmed cryogenic system performance:-Convenient (LN2-free Operation…)-Quiet-Stable

Cryogenic system is ready for LXe proto-chamber experiment: -next for the first chamber performance test in June

Great Contributions:-Eric Morteau (Electronics)-Patrick Le Ray (Mechanics)-Cyril Grignon (PhD student)-Noel Servagent (Xenon Cryogenics)-Jean-Pierre Cussonneau (Simulation)-Dominique Thers (Team Leader)

(Nantes)-Tom Haruyama (Xenon Cryogenics)

(KEK)

17:03 21 March 2007Successful ‘First Xenon Liquefaction’

at Nantes!

Evidence of successful collaboration