2008-09-15 - Two ABB robots performed 54 million precision welding operations to help build the two accelerator rings in the Large Hadron Collider, through which particles were beamed for the first time last week to recreate the beginnings of the universe, one billionth of a second after the Big Bang.
By
ABB Communications
The two IRB 140 robots were part of a laser welding system especially designed to manufacture thousands of stainless steel alloy tubing assemblies for the two accelerator rings of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the largest and most complex scientific instrument ever built.
The giant CMS detector is one of four in which particles will collide at nearly light speed, and the results measured for later analysis. After more than two decades of preparation, the LHC made headline news on September 10 when the first particle beam
was successfully sent through one of two 27-kilometre long accelerator rings that form part of the world’s most powerful particle accelerator.
In the months to come, the LHC will smash subatomic particles together at 99.99 percent the speed of light, recreating conditions in the universe one billionth of a second after the Big Bang. The particles will be beamed in opposite directions through the accelerator rings and the collisions - 600 million times per second - will be measured by four huge detectors.
Located in a tunnel 50-150 meters beneath the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) on the Swiss-French border, the LHC has taken 20 years to set up, cost an estimated $10 billion and involved more than 10,000 scientists from 80 countries. Not surprisingly it is being called the most ambitious scientific experiment of all time.
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| “This is probably the most precise and demanding application of a standard robot ever devised” - Chris Moore, Garrandale Systems |
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Each tubing assembly is 15-18 meters in length and comprises an unusually complex arrangement of components welded to extremely demanding specifications. On one detail alone the tubing assembly required 0.3 mm diameter spot welds every 1 mm in axial length.
The position of the welds had to be within 10-15 microns to be effective, though the welds themselves are only 30 microns in diameter. For the two particle accelerators an estimated 54 million welds were performed by the two robots.
“This is probably the most precise and demanding application of a standard robot ever devised,” said Chris Moore, a director of Garrandale Systems, who designed the tubing assembly in collaboration with Ferranti Photonics for Accles & Pollock, all of the U.K.
“The combination of precision tooling and a standard, though high-performance robot coupled to a high level of robot programming, has produced incredible levels of accuracy and repeatability.”
Click to read more about the ABB robotics solution for the LHC