hadron collider 18kV failure
hadron collider 18kV failure
(OP)
Quote:
The science blog also posted an explanation from CERN spokeswoman Renilde Vanden Broeck, who explained a cable fault caused the failure in the 18 kV power supply network, which affected mainly the Meyrin site where the LHC is located, and in particular the injectors and the Computing Centre but not the LHC cryogenics. "The network was back up by 10:30 a.m. As there were knock-on effects it took time to get everything back up (the LHC etc. is a complex electrical system)," she wrote. "Power cuts are not that rare around here. There was again beam in the machine at 10:30 p.m. last night."
So I wonder if these nuclear physicists are a bit behind on cable testing practices. A comment like power failures are not that rare for a new $10 Billion accelerator seems odd to me!






RE: hadron collider 18kV failure
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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!
RE: hadron collider 18kV failure
RE: hadron collider 18kV failure
Agreed, looks like an MV switchgear termination problem.
I was just curious if her comment was really that 'equipment failures' aren't that rare, or 'power outages from the utility' aren't that rare.
Look what happens when spokespeople get involved: People who understand stuff start getting confused, and those who understand none of it start to know everything...
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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!
RE: hadron collider 18kV failure
RE: hadron collider 18kV failure
According to Leonard Susskind in Black Hole War, all of this, the energy, the LHC, the terminations, you, me, etc..., all of it-is nothing more than information anyway. Maybe someone forgot to inform the cable?
RE: hadron collider 18kV failure
RE: hadron collider 18kV failure
In all the years I've tested and installed MV cables (hundreds), I've never had one do that after a "good" test. I've terribly inconvenienced some people by telling them that one of their stress cone installations was "less than optimum" and recommended it be removed and reworked.
Oh, well...
old field guy
RE: hadron collider 18kV failure
In an effort to learn something, what constitutes a poor job on a stress cone termination? Thanks.
RE: hadron collider 18kV failure
I am a nuclear engineer and have done hundreds of MV cable tests and terminations.
RE: hadron collider 18kV failure
Good question.
1. Know what you're doing. I follwed a crew that didn't remove the semi-conducting layer before applying the termination kit. "We was readin' about that "semi-con" an' all we saw as black rubber. We thought our cable was different from the instructions." I found this little fauz pas in acceptance testing with a DC hipot.
2. Follow the instructions with the termination kit you're actually using. I failed a whole set (two conductors per phase, three phases) that didn't pass the acceptance test. The electrician "knew what he was doing" and didn't need the instructions. Except what he "knew" was from a different type of termination kit.
3. Keep things clean and dry, including the hands (or gloves) of the electrician applying the kit. The skin oils and sweat from the electrician can form a path invisible to the naked eye. High voltage electricity will find that path, though, and over a period of time, the path will begin to heat and carbonize, until one day...
old field guy
RE: hadron collider 18kV failure
Is a nuclear engineer the same thing as a nuclear physicist?
oldfieldguy:
Thanks for the info.
RE: hadron collider 18kV failure
"In all the years I've tested and installed MV cables (hundreds)"
Or..., you must be really, really good at this by now.
Just kidding, have a good day.
EEJaime