Determination of the Optimal Operating Parameters for Jefferson Laboratory's Cryogenic Cold Compressor Systems

The technology of Jefferson Laboratory's (JLab) Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) and Free Electron Laser (FEL) requires cooling from one of the world's largest 2K helium refrigerators known as the Central Helium Liquefier (CHL). The key characteristic of CHL is the ability to maintain a constant low vapor pressure over the large liquid helium inventory using a series of five cold compressors. The cold compressor system operates with a constrained discharge pressure over a range of suction pressures and mass flows to meet the operational requirements of CEBAF and FEL. The research topic is the prediction of the most thermodynamically efficient conditions for the system over its operating range of mass flows and vapor pressures with minimum disruption to JLab operations. The research goal is to find the operating points for each cold compressor for optimizing the overall system at any given flow and vapor pressure