LHC Shut Down By Transformer Malfunction 293
Ortega-Starfire writes "A 30-ton transformer in the Large Hadron Collider malfunctioned, requiring complete replacement on the day the LHC came online. No one at CERN reported any problems, and they only released this data once the Associated Press sent people to investigate rumors of problems. I guess it's hard to just sweep a 30-ton transformer breaking under the rug."
Re:Not the end of the world... (Score:5, Informative)
Can one of you physicists tell me how 4.5 Kelvin is different from 2 Kelvin, operationally?
At 2 K, adding a given amount of energy makes the entropy of the system go up 2.25 times as much as it would at 4.5 K. :)
The System Works (Score:3, Informative)
They knew this was a hazard going in (temp rising), they talked about the possibility before the first trials and they successfully designed systems to shutdown before causing damage. This is just part of the sea trials of the particle pirate's new ship.
Re:Transformers... (Score:5, Informative)
They're going to use the LHC to make energon cubes.
There, fixed that for you. Also, turn in your geen badge.
Transformer Failure (Score:1, Informative)
Transformers are usually considered very stable electrical equipment, given that they have no moving parts. The only way a transformer that passed factory inspection should fail is if there was a short circuit and the current in the windings exceeded the temporary overload rating. Of course any number of errors COULD have ocrrured, but the most obvious (insufficient electrical clearance, insufficient cooling, cracked power bushings, etc.) should have been found before it left the manufacturer. Maybe the contractor didn't size the unit properly?
Re:Not the end of the world... (Score:5, Informative)
Well, I haven't the faintest idea how the damn thing is cooled, but helium becomes superfliud at 2.17K (iirc). It effectively loses all of its viscosity and becomes far more thermally conductive. At 2K its a superfluid, at 4.5K its not. Cool stuff, but I don't know if it matters, I don't know squat about the LHC. (see what you get for asking a question on /.?)
Re:Why the tone in the summary? (Score:5, Informative)
a) Yes, it is a big complicated machine, things will break, this device barely impacted the overall schedule at all. People have been working on this project for about 2 decades. A week or two isn't in the least bit significant.
b) If this had happened say, 5 years from now, this point would be as irrelevant as it is now. And as noteworthy.
c) Cosmic rays interact in our atmosphere in the PeV range (Peta Electron Volt), the LHC smashes particles together in the 14 TeV (Tera Electron Volt). Sooo.... it operates at energy levels an order of magnitude less than what currently happens on Earth... I don't know about you, but I feel pretty safe about the whole thing.
d) They did fix it pronto, and it does work. Little things break, I know where I work (a not so little accelerator) I didn't hear a PEEP about this incident and we have been directly and closely involved in the LHC.
In short, I agree with hairykrishna, this isn't really news. Just another instance of the media trying to make a big deal out of something small.
Re:A Transformer? (Score:3, Informative)
I think it was Gary Seven [wikipedia.org] saving our butts once more.
Re:Not the end of the world... (Score:5, Informative)
The magnets they use to shape and steer the beam require about 12,000 amps, so they use superconductors. Between 2K and 4.5K, the superconductor undergoes a phase change and becomes non-superconducting, and the resistance goes from zero to not zero all of a sudden. The 12,000 amps suddenly produces an incredible amount of heat (P=I^2R) which drastically increases the pressure from the liquid He. That much pressure means the He needs to escape (violently), causing all sorts of trouble. It's called a 'quench.'
Time travel (Score:5, Informative)
"A 30-ton transformer in the Large Hadron Collider malfunctioned, requiring complete replacement on the day the LHC came online."
This news must have traveled in time - because the LHC doesn't come online until sometime next summer. Right now, its in the middle stages of a months long startup and calibration sequence.
Not to mention that stuff breaks during the startup of complex machinery, doubly so for one of a kind complex machinery.
Re:Why the tone in the summary? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Not the end of the world... (Score:5, Informative)
Summary plainly misleading (Score:5, Informative)
They have day-to-day log of the activities at https://lhc-commissioning.web.cern.ch/lhc-commissioning/dailynews/index.htm [web.cern.ch] I didn't have any problems finding this logs at the LHC website.
Transformer outage and cryogenics breakdown is logged on September 13. They were not 'rumors'.
Link to current status page (Score:5, Informative)
The current status of the beam can always be viewed here [web.cern.ch]
All other status informations are linked from here [web.cern.ch]
So maybe they didn't make a press release, but perhaps journalists should be smart enough to find these pages instead of claiming conspiracies?
Re:Broken sure .. but needing REPLACEMENT? (Score:2, Informative)
We had a 20 year old, 5MW transformer go a month ago. Internal bolted connections had loosened in the years since we had last drained the oil to inspect them. There was internal arcing which damaged the connections so badly they had to be replaced. The transformer was drained of oil and shipped off for repair. It was re-installed this week.
We have a vendor sample the oil annually to check for compounds formed during arcing. The oil check picked up the nascent problem about five months ago. We didn't repair it then because the accelerator was operating. When the accelerator was shut down for the summer (electricity price hike) the oil was drained and the problem found to require offsite repair.
We don't have the money to stock spare transformers. CERN seems to. Or at least they have the cash to buy a spare fast and repair the broken one at leisure.
Re:Why the tone in the summary? (Score:3, Informative)
Well, duh. You'd have to be infinitely dense to not see that.