1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for producing a superconducting acceleration cavity for use in a superconducting acceleration apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A superconducting acceleration apparatus using a superconducting acceleration cavity comprising a superconducting material such as a niobium material has been developed as an apparatus for accelerating an electron beam or charged particles with a high efficiency. The superconducting acceleration apparatus is used in the field of elementary particle physics and the field of synchrotron radiation utilization facilities. As the fields of use of this apparatus expand, a demand is expected to grow for a superconducting acceleration apparatus high in efficiency, stable in quality and low in cost.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1990-159101
A conventional superconducting acceleration cavity 61 is formed by coupling and welding a plurality of half cells 62a, each comprising a cup-shaped tube enlarged at one opening and narrowed at the other opening, with the adjacent openings of the same size being opposed to each other. This superconducting acceleration cavity 61 is composed of a niobium material as a superconducting material. To construct a structure in which two of the half cells 62a are opposed to each other to form one cavity cell 62, and five of the cavity cells 62 are coupled together, for example, ten of the half cells 62a are used. As the welding points, a total of 11 sites are necessary, namely, 5 sites called equator portions including X2, X4, X6, X8 and X10, 4 sites called iris portions including X3, X5, X7 and X9, and 2 sites of welding to flange portions 63, including X1 and X11, as shown in
The superconducting acceleration cavity 61 is supplied with a predetermined high frequency power from a wave guide 64. Upon application of the supplied high frequency power, the cavity cells 62 resonate to form a predetermined acceleration gradient in their lengthwise direction. To obtain the desired acceleration gradient, the state of the cavity cell 62 (half cell 62a), for example, the state of the inner wall portion of the cavity, is important. If there is a surface defect or the like, it presents resistance to the high frequency wave, posing difficulty in obtaining the desired acceleration gradient. The same is true of the welded portion and, as the number of the welding points increases, it becomes more difficult to maintain the constant quality of the superconducting acceleration cavity 61. This has imposed limitation on the acceleration cavity, and has served as a factor of a cost increase.
There has been an attempt to integrally mold all the cells of the superconducting acceleration cavity. However, this has posed a problem such as cracking in the cavity surface, and has not been established as a realistic method of manufacturing. That is, in order to maintain the constant quality of the superconducting acceleration cavity, it is desired to minimize the number of the welding points.
Furthermore, not only the minimum number of the welding points, but an improvement in the edge preparation accuracy of the welding points is also desired for increasing the processing accuracy of the entire superconducting acceleration cavity.
The present invention has been accomplished in light of the above-described problems. It is an object of the invention to provide a method for producing a superconducting acceleration cavity having a stabilized quality, which reduces the manufacturing cost by decreasing the number of the welding points.
A method for producing a superconducting acceleration cavity according to a first invention, for solving the above problems, is a method for producing a superconducting acceleration cavity, comprising:
forming a concavity around a central part of a cylindrical pipe made of a superconducting material to form a dumbbell-shaped first cavity;
enlarging one opening and narrowing another opening of the cylindrical pipe made of the superconducting material to form a cup-shaped second cavity; and
welding a plurality of the first cavities for coupling, and welding the second cavities to opposite ends of the plurality of the first cavities.
A method for producing a superconducting acceleration cavity according to a second invention, for solving the above problems, is the method for producing a superconducting acceleration cavity according to the first invention, further comprising:
disposing the cylindrical pipe made of the superconducting material on an outer peripheral side of a columnar mold, the columnar mold having a concavity forming portion for forming the concavity of the first cavity and being divisible on a diametrical plane; and
performing draw forming of the cylindrical pipe by use of another mold to be fitted into the concavity forming portion, thereby integrally molding the first cavity so as to follow the concavity forming portion.
A method for producing a superconducting acceleration cavity according to a third invention, for solving the above problems, is the method for producing a superconducting acceleration cavity according to the first invention, further comprising:
disposing the cylindrical pipe made of the superconducting material on an inner peripheral side of a tubular mold, the tubular mold having a convexity for forming the concavity of the first cavity and being divisible on an axial plane; and
performing draw forming of the cylindrical pipe, thereby integrally molding the first cavity so as to follow a shape formed by the convexity.
A method for producing a superconducting acceleration cavity according to a fourth invention, for solving the above problems, is the method for producing a superconducting acceleration cavity according to the second or third invention, wherein
the first cavity is processed into a final shape after having an intermediate shape.
A method for producing a superconducting acceleration cavity according to a fifth invention, for solving the above problems, is the method for producing a superconducting acceleration cavity according to the first invention, further comprising:
disposing the cylindrical pipe made of the superconducting material on an outer peripheral side of a columnar mold, the columnar mold having a concavity forming portion for forming the concavity of the first cavity and being divisible on a diametrical plane;
sealing opposite ends of the cylindrical pipe; and
exerting pressure by a fluid from outside the cylindrical pipe, thereby integrally molding the first cavity so as to follow the concavity forming portion.
A method for producing a superconducting acceleration cavity according to a sixth invention, for solving the above problems, is the method for producing a superconducting acceleration cavity according to any one of the second to fourth inventions, further comprising:
providing ring-shaped detachable spacers at opposite end portions of the mold;
performing integral molding of the first cavity, with the spacers being mounted, during draw forming; and
performing edge preparation of end portions of the first cavity, with the spacers being detached, during edge preparation of the first cavity.
According to the present invention, the first cavity is rendered dumbbell-shaped by integral molding. Thus, the number of the welding points can be decreased, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced. Furthermore, the decrease in the number of the welding points can stabilize the quality of the product when manufactured. That is, it becomes possible to produce a superconducting acceleration cavity of a superconducting acceleration apparatus of a low cost and having a high quality.
According to the present invention, the spacers are provided at opposite end portions of the mold. By so doing, the first cavity is formed into the shape of a dumbbell, with the spacers being mounted, during draw forming. Then, edge preparation of end portions of the first cavity is carried out, with only the spacers being detached, without detachment of the first cavity from the mold. Thus, the mold is shared between the draw forming and the edge preparation. Consequently, a changing operation can be omitted, and processing accuracy can be increased.
1 superconducting acceleration cavity, 2 half cell, 3 dumbbell cell, 4 flange portion, 5 wave guide.
A method for producing a superconducting acceleration cavity according to the present invention will be described by reference to
If it is desired to construct a structure consisting of 5 cavity cells coupled together, for example, the superconducting acceleration cavity 1 is constructed using two of the half cells 2 and four of the dumbbell cells 3, because opposed increased-diameter portions 3a of the two dumbbell cells 3 are combined to form one cavity cell and the increased-diameter portion 3a of the dumbbell cell 3 and the half cell 2 are combined to form one cavity cell. The welding points are a total of 7 points including 3 points W3, W4 and W5 of welding between the dumbbell cells 3, 2 points W2 and W6 of welding between the half cell 2 and the dumbbell cell 3, and 2 points W1 and W7 of welding between the half cell 2 and a flange portion 4, as shown in
The superconducting acceleration cavity 1 is disposed within a jacket made of titanium (not shown), and is adapted to be cooled with liquid helium, which is supplied to the interior of the jacket to fill the surroundings of the superconducting acceleration cavity 1, so as to maintain a superconducting state. A wave guide 5, which supplies a predetermined high frequency power to the superconducting acceleration cavity 1, is provided in the vicinity of one end of the superconducting acceleration cavity 1. Under the action of the supplied high frequency power, the cavity cells resonate to form a predetermined acceleration gradient in a lengthwise direction of the superconducting acceleration cavity 1. An electron beam or charged particles passing through the interior of the superconducting acceleration cavity 1 are accelerated in the lengthwise direction of the superconducting acceleration cavity 1. One of the flange portions 4 is connected to a supply section for the electron beam or charged particles, and the other flange portion 4 is connected to a delivery section for the accelerated electron beam or charged particles. The size of the cavity cell becomes different according to the applied frequency. When a frequency of 1.3 GHz is applied, for example, the size of one cavity cell is about 200 mm in the diameter of the larger-diameter portion, 70 mm in the diameter of the smaller-diameter portion, and of the order of 115 mm in length. The niobium material constituting the cavity cell usually has a thickness of about 3 mm.
Here, methods of integrally molding the dumbbell cell 3 constituting the superconducting acceleration cavity 1 according to the present invention will be described using
The use of the integral molding methods described below can result in the molding of the dumbbell cell 3 free from a defect in the inner wall surface and of a stable shape, and can lead to stabilization of the quality of the dumbbell cell 3 itself. As a result, the number of the welding points can be reduced, thus contributing to the reduction of the manufacturing cost and the stabilization of the quality of the superconducting acceleration cavity 1.
The methods of molding shown in
In the draw forming method shown in
In the draw forming method shown in
The molding method shown in
Concretely, in a first stage as shown in
Then, in a second stage as shown in
Then in a third stage as shown in
Finally, in a fourth stage as shown in
The molding methods shown in
In the hydraulic forming method shown in
Concretely, a liquid 35 (fluid) such as water or an oil is poured into the pressure vessel 31 to exert a predetermined pressure. As the pressure increases, the pipe member 11 is deformed by the pressure difference between the interior and the exterior of the pipe member 11, namely, the pressure difference between the pressure P1 of the liquid 35 and the pressure P2 of the residual gas within the pipe member 11. At this time, the sealing jigs 33, 34 apply predetermined axial tension to the pipe member 11 and, even when the pipe member 11 deforms, retain the sealing of the pipe member 11, and ensure the pressure difference between the interior and the exterior of the pipe member 11. Moreover, the gas discharged through the communication hole 32c is also let out of the pressure vessel 31 through a discharge pipe 33a provided in the sealing jig 33. This also contributes to the formation of the pressure difference between the interior and the exterior of the pipe member 11. In this manner, the liquid 35 within the pressure vessel 31 is controlled to the desired pressure, and the pipe member 11 is formed into the desired shape, i.e., the shape of the dumbbell cell 3, under the pressure of the liquid 35 applied from outside the pipe member 11. The mold 32 itself can be divided into two on the diametrical plane at a parting section 32d. After formation of the dumbbell cell 3, the mold 32 is divided, and the dumbbell cell 3 after formation is withdrawn.
The hydraulic forming method shown in
Upon application of a predetermined pressure to the liquid 35 within the sealing vessel 36, the pressure difference arises between the interior and the exterior of the pipe member 11, as the pressure increases. Because of the pressure difference between the pressure P1 of the liquid 35 and the pressure P2 of the residual gas within the pipe member 11, the pipe member 11 deforms. At this time, the residual gas within the pipe member 11 is discharged to the outside through the communication hole 32c to ensure the pressure difference between the interior and the exterior of the pipe member 11. In this manner, the liquid 35 within the sealing vessel 36 is controlled to the desired pressure, and the pipe member 11 is formed into the desired shape, i.e., the shape of the dumbbell cell 3, under the pressure of the liquid 35 applied from outside the pipe member 11. After formation of the dumbbell cell 3, the mold 32 is divided into two at a parting section 32d, and the dumbbell cell 3 after formation is withdrawn.
According to the hydraulic forming described above, the pressure of the liquid is used as an external pressure, so that the force acting on the pipe member 11 becomes equal in all regions. Consequently, the dumbbell cell 3 free from a defect in the inner wall surface and of a stable shape can be molded.
The dumbbell cells 3 formed by the molding methods of Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2 need to be subjected to edge preparation for welding after draw forming. With the conventional molding method, after draw forming, edge preparation has been carried out separately using an edge preparation device, as shown in
In the present embodiment, therefore, the mold 12 or the like is configured such that the dumbbell cell 3 after draw forming can be subjected to edge preparation while being installed at the mold 12 for draw forming. Concretely, as shown in
The draw forming in
The present invention is suitable for a superconducting acceleration cavity comprising a niobium material, but can also be applied in a case where a material other than a niobium material is used as the superconducting material.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2005-114127 | Apr 2005 | JP | national |
2006-062089 | Mar 2006 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2006/307535 | 4/10/2006 | WO | 00 | 7/30/2007 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2006/109761 | 10/19/2006 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20070275860 A1 | Nov 2007 | US |