The Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) collaboration is developing an international multi-kiloton Long-Baseline Neutrino experiment to be located about a mile underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), in Lead, SD, USA. In the current configuration four cryostats will contain a modular detector and a total of 68,400 ton of ultra pure liquid argon, with a level of impurities lower than 100 parts per trillion (ppt) of oxygen equivalent contamination. The Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) provides the conventional facilities and the cryogenic infrastructure (including the cryostats housing the detector) to support DUNE. This contribution presents the modes of operations, layout and main features of the LBNF cryogenic system.
The system is comprised of three sub-systems: External/Infrastructure (or LN2), Proximity (or LAr) and Internal cryogenics. The External/Infrastructure provides the infrastructure and equipment to store, produce and distribute the cryogenic fluids needed for the operation of the Proximity Cryogenics, which delivers them to the Internal at the pressure, temperature, mass flow rate, quality and purity required by the detector inside the cryostat. ... mehrThe External/Infrastructure cryogenics includes the LN2 refrigeration system and the surface facilities, with the receiving stations, the LN2 and LAr storage tanks and the vaporizers. The Proximity Cryogenics includes the LAr and GAr purification systems, the phase separators, the condensers, and the piping connecting the various parts. The Internal Cryogenics consists of all the cryogenic equipment located inside the cryostat, namely the GAr and LAr distribution systems and the systems to cool down the cryostats and the detectors. An international engineering team will design, manufacture, commission, and qualify the LBNF cryogenic system. The expected performance, the functional requirements and the status of the design are presented in this contribution.