Product category:
Presswork, stamping, fabrication Subcontracting Services
News Release from: DavyMarkham | Subject: Heavy fabrication expertise
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 10 October 2002
Super box to contain super laser
An Interaction Chamber for the Central Laser Facility of the CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory has been fabricated and coated to demanding standards.
The Sheffield-based Manufacturing Division of Kvaerner Engineering and Construction is known for applying precision engineering standards to large-scale fabrication and machining jobs That was certainly the case when the Prince of Wales Road works built an Interaction Chamber for the Central Laser Facility of the CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, at Didcot, Oxfordshire
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 10 Jul 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Heavy fabricator centralises plant to save costs
To streamline production, reduce energy consumption and trim costs, DavyMarkham has moved its separate, whole heavy fabrication shop next to its main plant in Sheffield, UK.
5m wide plate mill stand machined, assembled
UK-based heavy machining and fabricating company is poducing a 1050 tonnes, 5m wide plate rolling stand for an Indian steel plant - to be machined and test assembled before shipping.
Essentially a large 2m wide x 2.2m high x 5m long steel rectangular box, with a series of ports on each face, the interaction chamber was built to extremely close tolerances from 120mm thick, stress-relieved plate.
It weighs around 45 tonnes and was welded to specifications equivalent to those in the nuclear processing industry.
Now lined on the inside with 20mm of aluminium to reduce radiation from high energy ions and electrons, as well as reducing activation of the chamber walls, it is covered with 150mm of lead to attenuate gamma radiation and neutrons.
Further reading
Forging presses upgraded in short time
UK heavy fabrication company is able to provide an expert service that can return forging presses, manipulators, to as-new or even superior condition, in a very short time time.
Large mine hoist order from nickel producer
Sheffield heavy engineering specialist Davy Markham has secured an GBP6.5 million order from CVRD Inco Limited, a large Canadian nickel producer, for mine hoists.
Largest hard rock tunnel boring machine
To serve a Niagara hydro-electric project, DavyMarkham manufactured a cutter head support and a final drive housing for what is claimed to be world's largest hard rock TBM (tunnel boring machine).
There is also 100mm of high density polyethylene to moderate and absorb neutrons.
Thus shielded, it forms the heart of the new Vulcan Petawatt facility, the world's leading ultra high intensity laser.
Kvaerner E and C gained this GBP 120,000+ contract on the basis of its heavy fabrication experience and a financially favourable bid.
According to the Technical Support Group Leader, Richard Day, it was one of few UK works able to handle a project of this kind.
"Kvaerner has tremendous facilities and, despite its size, our interaction chamber was virtually lost in a corner of their factory," says Day.
CCLRC, Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils, supports world-class research activities, by providing leading-edge facilities and extensive scientific expertise across three sites in the UK, which are used by 7,000 international researchers each year.
Its Central Laser Facility (CLF) at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is one of the world's leading laser installations, which affords scientists from universities in the UK and Europe with an unparalleled range of state-of-the-art technology.
Lasers (light amplification by stimulated emissions of radiation) are amongst the most versatile scientific tools for plasma and materials research.
Thanks to GBP 3.8 million in funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, CLF's high power neodymium glass laser, Vulcan, is now being upgraded to increase the power available to 1 petawatt (1015W), producing intensities in excess of 1021Wcm-2, described as effectively creating a 'mini Sun'.
A major component of the project was the construction of a new target area and the design and fabrication of a vacuum chamber for housing the high intensity laser interaction.
This interaction chamber had to be stable enough for precisely focusing the laser beam, withstand an external pressure of around 1 tonne/sq ft when evacuated and accommodate sufficient shielding for the large amount of x-rays, gamma rays and other radiation generated.
Normally round in shape, a rectangular design was preferred as more space efficient and 120mm thick mild steel (BS EN ISO25 S3 55 J2 G3) was specified for cost and structural reasons.
The Vulcan Petawatt interaction chamber was machined and fabricated at Kvaerner E and C's giant Sheffield works and both Richard Day and CLF Design Engineer, Peter Hatton, visited the factory to oversee progress, during the 23-week manufacturing process.
The north wall of the chamber can be removed by crane for installing ancillary equipment inside; while round ports on three faces provide for additional long pulse beams and rectangular openings on the west wall enable access for personnel and diagnostics purposes.
The interaction chamber was subsequently nickel plated by specialists Nitec of Chesterfield, to reduce outgassing and meet clean vacuum and laser requirements.
Final installation involved removing a complete wall of the new target area at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, lifting the interaction chamber into position and bonding it to a single 1m thick block of concrete with over thirty M24 bolts, to reduce movement to less than 4mm between atmospheric pressure and vacuum.
The chamber was connected to its services and successfully tested; the internal and external shielding was then added and the whole facility finally commissioned.
Happily, the Kvaerner E and C nameplate was first removed from the steel chamber and now sits proudly on the exterior of the shielding.
Testament to the fact that traditional engineering skills can play a role in one of the world's most advanced scientific research facilities.
• DavyMarkham: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Manufacturingtalk email newsletter
• Manufacturingtalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
