Modeling and Commissioning of a Cold Compressor String for the Superfluid Cryogenic Plant at Fermilab's Cryo-module Test Facility

In 2011, Linde Cryogenics, a division of Linde Process Plants, Tulsa, Oklahoma, was awarded the contract to deliver a 500 W at 2 K superfluid cryogenic plant to Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) in Batavia, Illinois, USA. This system includes a cold compressor string with three centrifugal compressors and a vacuum pump skid with five volumetric pumps in parallel used to pump down helium to its saturation pressure corresponding to 2 K. Linde Kryotechnik AG, Pfungen Switzerland engineered and supplied the cold compressor system and commissioned it with its control logic to cover the complete range of system operation. The paper outlines issues regarding compressor design, compressor string modeling, control algorithms, controller performance, and surge protection.