"Brandauer is one of a few companies in Europe with the skills and expertise to work with this metal for such a specialist application."
UK engineering skills to get the Hadron Collider running
A multi-billion pound experiment aimed at unravelling the mysteries of the universe is helping to safeguard the future of dozens of UK engineering jobs.
One Midlands-based company recently secured a £170,000 contract to help repair the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, located on the Swiss-French border.
Scientists at CERN (The European Organisation for Nuclear Research) were all set to recreate the conditions found at the creation of the universe, milliseconds after the big bang, when a superconductor in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) failed - bringing the experiment to a grinding halt.
Precision pressings specialist Brandauer, which employs around 70 people at its plant in Birmingham has since been asked to supply 2,500 specially made pressure relief springs designed to prevent pressure build-up within the LHC that could cause further damage.
Explained David Spears, managing director at Brandauer: “We were approached to design and manufacture springs for new valves that will prevent pressure build-up by allowing for more helium gas to be released in the event of a sudden increase in temperature within the LHC.”
To achieve the quality required for such a high-pressure environment, the valve springs needed to be manufactured from beryllium-copper alloy and Brandauer is one of a few companies in Europe with the skills and expertise to work with this metal for such a specialist application.
After spending a month working with the CERN scientists and engineers to develop the ideal design solution, Brandauer has almost completed the order and the new valves are currently being installed.
Continued Mr Spears: “CERN came to us when they had a problem and this is the type of job at which we excel: a tough application with difficult metals and almost impossible deadlines.
“It is also very encouraging to see some of the money that the UK Government invests in CERN being spent in the Midlands and the fact that the scientists turned to a British company for help reflects the country’s reputation for engineering excellence.” he added.
Prior to treatment the alloy has to be thoroughly cleaned in an ultra sonic degreasing process working in a vacuum environment. Then the metal is heat treated in an oven purged of oxygen, held at the exactly the right temperature required to produce the pressure properties specified, and kept in a constant stream of inert gas (nitrogen).
This process improves the alloy’s mechanical strength as well as its spring-back properties. Brandauer have all this equipment in-house which facilitates tight control on critical production processes.
