Speaker
Description
The ATLAS and CMS Phase-2 detector upgrades will employ CO₂-based evaporative cooling to ensure stable thermal operation of the newly developed silicon tracker modules, which are scheduled to be installed during LS3. Extensive validation and commissioning must be completed beforehand to guarantee proper cooling performance of the detector modules. In particular, cooling loops must be verified for intended pressure drops, proper heat dissipation, and overall functionality before detectors are ready for installation.
To support this effort, two dedicated cooling plants, one for each experiment, have been constructed using a combination of inherited hardware from the DEMO system and initial set of outsourced final components. These plants, referred to as DEMO Inheritance, are designed to validate cooling performance of detector prototypes and final structures, but are also intended to gauge the functionality of the newly installed plant and accumulator assemblies. Additional system elements have been integrated to simplify the connection of detector modules, allow controlled filling and evacuation of detector volumes, and enable distribution of flow and pressure to multiple prototypes simultaneously.
As these systems represent a step forward from the original demonstration plant, a commissioning campaign was carried out to ensure the operational readiness of the plant and characterize system performance. In parallel, procedures were developed and tested to streamline the commissioning for the final cooling systems, most notably the automation of component characterization, such as heating elements and pumps. Given the need to commission a total of 16 systems for Phase II, fully tested automated procedures are critical to make commissioning tractable and coherent.
This contribution will present the commissioning process of the inheritance plants, the procedures developed to support the upcoming installations, and the overall system performance and readiness. Additionally, the operator workflow and functionality will be presented as an introduction for new users to get acquainted with the cooling plants. This will serve as a basis to discuss expectations and possibilities for performance validation of the final detector modules.
