In addition to providing complex, high-tech solutions for clients in various industries, Van Halteren Technologies is also active in the scientific sector.
One example is the company’s contribution to the prestigious High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) project for CERN in Meyrin near Geneva, Switzerland. After a successful prototype phase, Van Halteren was contracted to produce around 120 large, high-grade aluminium cylinders to extremely tight tolerances. Van Halteren’s Jeroen Kleinlugtenbelt explains how the team approached this project to deliver reliable product quality in line with the customer’s high expectations.
Electromechanical solution
As part of the High Luminosity upgrade project aimed at cranking up the performance of the Large Hadron Collider to further increase the potential for physics discoveries beyond 2029, CERN required a number of large, high-grade aluminium cylinders plus various other parts. “Although we primarily handle steel and stainless steel, we also have experience of working with high-grade aluminium on a regular basis, so this
was not a problem for us,” says Jeroen Kleinlugtenbelt, Technical Sales Manager at Van Halteren’s headquarters in Bunschoten, the Netherlands.
“The main challenge lay in establishing a reproducible production process, because the specified tolerances of the cylinders – each measuring approximately a metre long and half a metre in diameter – were extremely tight, and CERN ultimately needed around 120 of them,” he continues.
Thorough approach to machining strategy
“To achieve the right combination of dependability and efficiency, we needed to first learn how the material would behave at every stage of the process. Therefore, we took a very thorough approach to our machining strategy,” explains Kleinlugtenbelt. “This entailed performing extensive tests using the end requirements as our starting point, conducting careful quality control measurements after each machining step, and deploying – and in this case also developing – the necessary production tooling to deal with the varying material tension. Thanks to our detailed prework, we succeeded in producing satisfactory prototypes in the pre-series phase with very little fine-tuning.”
Delivering on the quality promise
Due to the high degree of precision required in the cylinders, CERN was focused on quality as well as price. “By involving the experts from our work preparation, production and technical sales departments, we were able to make a realistic assessment of the challenges and also the costs associated with this project. We were awarded the order thanks to our proven performance in the past, plus our ability to deliver
on our quality promise at the agreed price,” recalls Kleinlugtenbelt.
“Series production ran continuously from 2019 to 2021, with all the steps – including turning, milling and quality control – taking place at our works in Bunschoten. The customer supplied us with the high-grade aluminium material, and we shipped the finished cylinders to CERN in batches, packed in special protective crates due to the high value of the products,” he adds.
Collaboration and preparation are key
The customer was very happy with the final result, according to Kleinlugtenbelt. “The project ran very smoothly and the majority of the contact between ourselves and CERN was concentrated at the beginning and the end of the process. We supplied the cylinders on schedule and within the specified tolerances, so they could be assembled with the other components in the HL-LHC project as planned,” he states. “This project once again underlines the importance of internal collaboration as a multidisciplinary team, and demonstrates what we can achieve based on thorough planning and preparation. We have since received a few other interesting orders from CERN and are looking forward to continuing to support them in various other projects,” he concludes.
Successful partnership for 8 years
CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world’s largest and best-known research centres. CERN develops and manufactures custom-built particle accelerators and detectors. As part of the long-standing partnership, Van Halteren Technologies supplies welded and machined components made of various materials (stainless steel, carbon steel and aluminium) mainly for the HL-LHC magnets. Lastly, Van Halteren Technologies has successfully machined more than 100 aluminium shells for the MQXFB Magnets. These shells required the specific expertise of Van Halteren Technologies, due to the large dimensions and particularly tight tolerances required. Van Halteren Technologies also offers services in the field of quality assurance, including full technical documentation.
Pierre Moyret
Mechanical and Materials Engineering, CERN
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