Automated permanent magnet magnetization system for 8 GeV transfer line and recycler ring production at Fermilab

The Recycler antiproton storage ring and the 8 GeV beam transfer line between the Fermilab Booster and the Main Injector are constructed using permanent magnet ferrite bricks surrounding a steel pole and housed inside a steel flux return shell. The transfer line consists of 51 dipoles, 67 gradient magnets, and 8 quadrupoles. The Recycler ring consists of approximately 350 gradient magnets and 60 quadrupoles. These magnet assemblies are being produced at Fermilab currently and as a part of the tooling required to produce these assemblies we have designed, built and put into production an automated permanent magnet magnetization system. The system includes a conventional B-2 type dipole, a programmable logic controller (PLC) controlled brick mover, a Hall-probe measurement station and an IBM Compatible PC for data acquisition. The system has been used in the production of the 8 GeV beam transfer line magnet assemblies each requiring several hundred individual permanent magnets. This paper describes and illustrates the design of the automated system, the data acquisition, use of FEA analysis in the design, and the experience we have had using this production system