The compressor unit of the 4.5 K refrigerator at Point 6. The unit provides 18 kW cooling capacity. There are eight of these units in the complete system (Image: CERN)
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is one of the coldest places on Earth, with superconducting magnets – the key defining feature – that operate at 1.9 K. While there may be colder places in other laboratories, none compares to the LHC’s scale and complexity. The cryogenic system that provides the cooling for the superconducting magnets, with their total cold mass of 36,000 tonnes, is the largest and most advanced of its kind. It has been running continuously at some level since January 2007, providing stalwart service and achieving an availability equivalent to more than 99% per cryogenic plant.
Read more: "The challenge of keeping cool" – CERN Courier
via CERN updates
http://home.web.cern.ch/about/updates/2013/09/challenge-keeping-cool
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