Thermal Runaways in LHC Interconnections: Experiments

The incident in the LHC in September 2008 occurred in an interconnection between two magnets of the 13 kA dipole circuit. This event was traced to a defect in one of the soldered joints between two superconducting cables stabilized by a copper busbar. Further investigation revealed defective joints of other types. A combination of (1) a poor contact between the superconducting cable and the copper stabilizer and (2) an electrical discontinuity in the stabilizer at the level of the connection can lead to an unprotected quench of the busbar. Once the heating power in the unprotected superconducting cable exceeds the heat removal capacity a thermal run-away occurs, resulting in a fast melt-down of the non-stabilized cable. We have performed a thorough investigation of the conditions upon which a thermal run-away in the defect can occur. To this aim, we have prepared heavily instrumented samples with well-defined and controlled defects. In this paper we describe the experiment, and the analysis of the data, and we summarize the main results which are relevant to delimit the conditions of safe operation for the LHC. The results obtained, and specifically a controlled replica of the September 2008 incident demonstrate the necessity to re-work all main-circuit interconnects in the LHC in order to operate safely at the nominal energy.