The University of Salerno, southern Italy, is going to build a test facility for superconducting cables and devices called NAFASSY (National Facility for Superconducting Systems) under the leadership of the Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN). With the help of financial support from the European Union, the project aims to promote research and competitiveness in Italy’s less developed regions.
The heart of the test facility includes a large bore superconducting solenoid magnet (ENFASI), and superconducting dipole magnets requiring cryogenic cooling. International projects for example ITER and related projects require superconducting cables and equipment. NAFASSY will make an important contribution to the development and tests of superconducting magnets for the field of high energy physics and find results for the applications of superconducting materials in the production and distribution of electricity.
The helium refrigerator, supplied by Linde Kryotechnik, is customized for the specific requirements of the ENFASI magnet and provides cooling at different temperature levels. Also, the dipole tests, demanding greatly reduced cooling, can be conducted very efficiently with the supplied plant.
Furthermore, the plant is equipped and designed for an easy retrofit to permit highly efficient operation as liquefier by slightly adjusting the expansion turbine nozzle rings.
