INFN/LNL, Legnaro
PIAVE-ALPI is the INFN-LNL superconducting heavy ion linac, composed by an SRFQ (superconducting RFQ) section and three QWR sections for a total of 80 cavities installed and an equivalent voltage exceeding 70 MV. In the last years the SRFQ and the bulk niobium QWR came into routine operation, the medium energy QWR section was upgraded with a new Nb sputtered coating, ECR source was firstly improved by using water cooled plasma chamber and then replaced with a new one. The operation of the accelerator complex allowed acquiring a strong experience on many operational issues related to ECRIS, superconducting cavities and cryogenics, beam control and manipulation (with the new and higher accelerating gradient). The paper reports about operational experience, the present limitations and the future perspectives of the facility in view of the experimental campaign with the EU detector AGATA and of the use of PIAVE ALPI as RIB post-accelerator for SPES radioactive ion beam facility.
INFN/LNL, Legnaro
In the LNL Heavy Ion Accelerator Complex, ALPI is a superconducting linear accelerator (Linac) whose first runs date back to 1993. In more than 15 years the LNL ALPI Linac evolved from an initial small configuration of 5 cryostats and 16 resonators to the actual size of 20 cryostats and 74 resonators. The superconducting character of ALPI implies the availability of a large cryogenic plant and distribution system to supply the liquid helium necessary to keep the resonators at 4.2 K. While the Linac structure has grown in the years and, in the mean time, the related cryogenic plant and distribution systems were enlarged and upgraded twice, the related control system remained largely unchanged in its main parts and it is now the first sub-system that urgently needs a deep renewing. The challenge to renovate a working control system with limited shut-downs is the subject of this presentation.