In the framework of the consolidation program, the East Experimental Area has started its renovation process, during the Long Shutdown #2.
The main objective is to refurbish the building 251 completely to host 64 new power converters that will power the new test area once the renovation is finished.
1. The notorious “Selecteur de ligne”
CERN’s unique selecteur de ligne as shown in Picture 1 was in use between 1967 and 2019 for the East Area Experimental Area.
It was used to route the power from two distinct power converters installed in the building 251 to three selectable magnets located in the Hall 157.
Its enormous capacity provided up to 30 configurable lines, allowing a maximum of 90 magnets connectable to 60 potential power sources, each line rated 1000V- 1000A DC current, see Picture 2 . Four additional 5000A DC lines were also available to power bigger equipment, such as Spectrometer magnets.
A very robust design and an apparent simplicity requiring a very low maintenance offered a very high flexibility to cope with any modification of the beam line.
This massive switch measuring 12m wide, 3m deep and 2m tall was dismantled in March 2019, as shown in Pictures 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
2. The building 251 “East Generator Building”
The building 251, or East Generator Building was built 55 years in the mid- 60’s (Picture 8 and Picture 9), at the same time as the East Hall (157) to host 33 rotating generators and 24 rectifier for a total of 18 MW available power for the experimental hall.
At a later stage, the installation was renovated partially to replace the rotating machines with 55 new and more efficient power converters and oil-filled transformers. This is the last major evolution of the area until today as shown in Picture 10 and Picture 11.
No less than four semi-trailer trucks and a couple of week of activities were required to evacuate more than 100T of old equipment and leave the area clean, as shown in Pictures 12,13,14,15 and 16.
Reporting from Emilien Coulot
TE-EPC-MPC
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