LBNL, Berkeley, California, USA
Cooling of in-vacuum beamline components has always been problematic. Water cooling lines can transfer vibrations to critical components, and often require complex air guarding systems to ensure that the vacuum envelope is not breached in the event of a leak. These constraints increase design complexity, limit options, and provide challenges for assembly and maintenance. Commercial heat pipes are inexpensive and readily available. Custom assemblies can be fabricated into vacuum flanges and may use non-water based cooling mediums if required. A mockup of an optical assembly has been used to explore vibration reduction and cooling capacity. Other example beamline components such as a heat generating electromagnetic shutter demonstrate the cooling capability of these heat pipes.
