Sometimes the day-job overlaps the image biz. Here, I include a few snaps of the delivery of our 800MHz magnet system. Hmm. Right, an 800MHz magnet system is a superconducting magnet housed within a complex vacuum bottle – think thermos on a grand scale with a big magnet inside. How big is the magnet? Ball park…when energized the field is more than 300,000 times greater than the Earth’s magnetic flux (strength). Not to worry, it’s not a magnet yet, that happens later (stay tuned), otherwise you’d be seeing pics of the magnet stuck to the crane – cute, but not our deal.
The gadget flies pretty well! Think of this thing as a 4 ton jewelry box. The riggers and crane-team need to run the gizmo into space without disturbing the gemstones. Did I mention that the piece is worth a cool $M. Don’t be nervous, it’s only a hand-made one-of-a-kind sort of thing…
Kudos and sincere thanks to Intermountain Rigging and Heavy Haul and Wagstaff Crane for a job well done – special thanks to Robert and Wade! If you ever need anything large-ish toted around, give these guys a call – they are the best I’ve worked with in +20 years of big-stuff-moving.
Awesome! Can’t wait to see pictures of you guys trying to bring it up to field. Did you get a cryoprobe too?
Hi Pete, I loved seeing the delivery. Loved your “education” of the magnet. Dity
Hi Dity,
Thanks for the note. I’ll send more pics soon.
Cheers,
P.
Hi A,
The magnet has now been completely assembled and leak-checked. So far, so good. Varian will send an engineer after the July 4 holiday to cool the system and energize the magnetic. If all goes well, we should have a big magnet by mid-july.
No cryoprobe. The system is meant to be shared between liquids and solid-state operation, and those cryoprobes cannot be demounted easily.
Stay tuned.
Cheers,
P.