The compressor will be used in a closed-loop circuit to circulate helium gas at warm (non-cryogenic) temperatures. The helium is used to remove the c.25 kW heat load generated in a graphite target in the Long Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) beamline at Fermilab, near Chicago. The target is required to convert a 1.2MW proton beam into a neutrino beam for the physics experiment DUNE.
The delivery of a suitable compressor to Fermilab, along with other key helium circuit components outside the scope of this document, forms part of UKRI’s Capital contribution-in-kind to the international DUNE collaboration.