Thermal analysis of cryogenically cooled linear accelerators

The evolution of a cryogenic cooling system design for a linear accelerator is presented. Critical design issues were identified and resolved based on optimization and trade studies that consider cooling performance, initial and life-cycle costs, operational hazards, and program delays. Results are presented of a comparison of cooling fluids to cryogenic and RF conditioning (room-temperature) operation for continuous-wave loads. An in-depth thermal analysis for the RF quadrupole (RFQ) is also presented. Supercritical neon has been chosen and optimized by analysis for the cryogenically cooled linear accelerator. It has also been shown to be an effective referee fluid for hydrogen, thereby eliminating many operational hazards. Water was chosen as the coolant for the RF conditioning