Visit to Cern

On 13.1.2003 we received the first order from CERN. Till then exists our mutual cooperation. One of the most interesting projects is the production of high frequency transformers. Those are 26-LAYER /!/ printed circuit boards. We produced over 3000 pieces. We cooperated closely and finally were invited to Geneva on 10-11th March 2005.
Two employees form Printed joined the excursion together with our interpreter. Apart from CERN we admired the landscape in the central part of Switzerland. In CERN we were already expected by Mr.Valuch, the chief of electronic laboratories. We started a detailed excursion around all the laboratories. At first we visited the underground accelerator SPS. Photographing was allowed everywhere and I have been told that CERN is paid from the taxes of participating european countries and there is nothing to hide.

The scientists in CERN work with the smallest particals of the materia in the largest laboratory, with the highest vacuum and with lowest achievable temperatures. At CERN everything is either absolutely tiny or absolutely enormous. The lab consumes a huge amount of electrical power from France. The electrons are accelerated near to the lightspeed. Energy of such an electron beam is comparable with the energy of Boeing 747 plane at the speed of 700km/h. The electron beam bombs a target and the created atomic subparticles are studied. The electrons are kept together by magnetic field of supraconducting magnets. The new LHC-accelerator uses 1500 pieces of such magnets each having a weight of 47 tons.

The quality and manual assembly of the system is great. The sealings, the thermal isolation, cabeling and waveguides are produced with absolute precision. The tunnel elements must be assembled with the precision of nanometers. The accelerator is sensitive to small tectonic activity of the earth as well as to the varying level of the Geneva lake. We also visited the laboratory where the antimateria was created.

The CERN is also interesting from the statistical view: the accelerating time of the LHC takes 8 hours. If there were the common electronic components used, the probability that such a big equipment would have a fault would be high. Not only electronic but also the pumps, cooling, the powering etc. must be extremaly reliable. The accelerator consumps during 3 hours 350 megawatts of electric power. Under these circumstances have to be all failures excluded.

To achieve such reliability from the suppliers, CERN supports the supplier´s technical development and quality level. Thanks to the cooperation with CERN, the producer gains the specific know-how for his daily production... The most important achievement of CERN for the worldwide communication is the Internet.

The size of CERN makes one breathless. I told Mr. Valuch that a spaceship compared to CERN seems like a steam engine. But I was told that apart from a spaceship, the CERN has more than only one try to start. The employees in CERN know that they can expect problems with the LHC. But all of them are doing their best to avoid such situation. In CERN there is no place for our Czech saying: "That will do". That was the greatest contribution from CERN for me.

Link to picture gallery - CERN