High reliability prototype quadrupole for the Next Linear Collider

The Next Linear Collider (NLC) will require over 5600 magnets, each of which must be highly reliable and/or quickly repairable in order that the NLC reach its 85% overall availability goal. A multidiscipline engineering team was assembled at SLAC to develop a more reliable electromagnet design than historically had been achieved at SLAC. This team carried out a failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) on a standard SLAC quadrupole magnet system. They overcame a number of long standing design prejudices, producing 10 major design changes. This paper describes how a prototype magnet was constructed and the extensive testing carried out on it to prove full functionality with an improvement in reliability. The magnet´s fabrication cost will be compared to the cost of a magnet with the same requirements made in the historic SLAC way. The NLC will use over 1600 of these 12.7 mm bore quadrupoles with a range of integrated strengths from 0.6 to 132 Tesla, a maximum gradient of 135 Tesla per meter, an adjustment range of 0 to -20% and core lengths from 324 mm to 972 mm. The magnetic center must remain stable to within 1 micron during the 20% adjustment. A magnetic measurement set-up has been developed that can measure sub-micron shifts of a magnetic center. The prototype satisfied the center shift requirement over the full range of integrated strengths.