VELO Facts
- VELO stands for VErtex LOcator
- The VELO project started in 1997.
- The VELO consists of 42 modules arranged in two "halves" (each half holds 21 modules).
- The VELO halves move to within
7mm of the LHC proton beams during data taking (and retract afterwards).
- Each VELO module can detect the position of a charged particle passing through it to an accuracy of up to 0.00001 m
- The modules are assembled in one of the cleanest places on earth - a class 100 cleanroom (criteria: less than 100 particles of dust per cubic foot of air)
- Each module contains 50m of wire to connect the electrical components together.
- It takes about 1000 hours to make one module (200 hours of commercial part manufacture and about 800 hours of assembly and testing).
- Each module costs about 10 000 GBP (materials cost - the real cost including labour, design and prototyping would be much higher)
Who's involved in the VELO
- CERN
- Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
- NIKHEF
- Syracuse University
- University of Glasgow
- University of Heidelberg
- Univeristy of Liverpool
Commercial companies involved
- Ceramaseal, USA: connectors for feed through flanges.
- Flexible Technology Ltd., UK: cable manufacture.
- GS Praezisions AG, Switzerland: cable manufacture.
- Hawk Electronics, UK: hybrid population.
- Hositrad Holland, Netherlands: feed through flanges for cables.
- Micron semiconductor, UK: sensor manufacture.
- Swagelok Nederland BV, Netherlands: cooling system.
- Shell, Netherlands: CO2 transport capillaries.
- Siemens, Germany: PLCs.
- Stevenage Circuits, UK: hybrid lamination.
- Thermo Vacuum Generators, UK: vacuum vessel manufacture.
- Wagenaar Koeltechniek, Netherlands: freon cooler.