SENSORS
Current transducers from Danisense again selected by CERN
Danisense DM1200 DCCTs used as North Area undergoes technical facelift and renovation program
T
he North Area (NA) at CERN is an experimental area which is part of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) complex, and it is currently undergoing a two-phase renovation and upgrade program. The NA receives proton beams from the SPS accelerator, the
second-largest proton accelerator at CERN, and it has been successfully operating for over 40 years. However, much of the equipment and infrastructure are now outdated, necessitating a comprehensive technical upgrade to prepare the beamlines and infrastructure for future decades. The increasing demand for higher intensities in the equipment, underscoring the need for maximum reliability.
As part of the ongoing NA renovation transducer (DCCT) from Danisense has been selected for use in the CERN-designed POLARIS power converters. “The DM1200 is a current output DCCT and, as such, it provides a current signal proportional to the measured current, which in this case is the output current of the POLARIS power converter. We convert the output current from the DCCT into a voltage signal, then digitise it, and use it in a digital current loop to precisely control the current in the magnets of the NA experimental lines,” explains Miguel Cerqueira Bastos, section leader in the Electrical Power Converter group at CERN. Based on Danisense’s ultra from very low offset and ultra-low drift. The device was successfully evaluated by CERN for use with DC currents up to 2kA with a linearity error less than 1 ppm. With its precise monitoring, reliable and consistent performance, and ruggedness for durability. The POLARIS power converter family from CERN is a modular power converter based on a fundamental power brick previously used in other CERN designs. Its topology
22 APRIL 2025 | ELECTRONICS FOR ENGINEERS
includes a line power transformer for voltage adaptation and galvanic isolation, a H-bridge converter with an output power supply and protection circuitry. “We chose Danisense’s DM1200 DCCT for our new power converter series because of its excellent balance between performance and cost at primary currents as high as 2kA,” explains Bastos.
When the engineers at CERN initially integrated the DM1200 DCCT, they discovered that its sensitivity to external from Danisense’s engineering team, who evaluated the issue, a custom magnetic shield was designed and built for the current transducer. In-house tests at Danisense effectively resolved the issue.
Danisense has already previously supplied another model of its DCCTs to CERN for the design of QTRIM power supplies for the PS booster accelerator, part of a chain of accelerators that inject the beam into the
LHC (Large Hadron Collider). This project required stability and linearity in the order of 10 ppm, as well as noise performance under 10 ppm peak-to-peak for a 10 kHz bandwidth at currents of 1000 A. The quality of the beam is strongly dependent on the quality of the current measurement provided by included very high immunity to magnetic can be present in some locations, and tight noise requirements, better than 30 ppm peak-to-peak with a 1 MHz bandwidth. “We are very happy with the quality, cost and accuracy of Danisense’s DM1200 DCCT and will use it in this project,” remarks Bastos. Loic Moreau, EMEA sales and marketing director at Danisense, concludes, “We greatly appreciate that the engineers at CERN choose to use our DCCTs in their projects and we happily assist them with technical support from our engineering team as well as our in-house testing capabilities. We are very much looking forward to further exciting new projects with CERN in the near future.”
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