Vibration isolation measures due to the high sensitive linear accelerator at the Paul Scherrer Institute

Abstract

The new 735m long linear accelerator “SwissFEL” at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Würenlingen is extremely sensitive against vibrations coming from surrounding equipment (pumps, ventilators, transformers, etc.). The manufacturer’s vibration limit for this linear accelerator is 0.1μm displacement amplitude. Therefore, all vibration sources must strictly be isolated to the highest-possible degree from the rest of the structure. This paper discusses the vibration situation in general for this unique construction (ground vibrations, vibration propagations / structural amplifications, vibration limits, etc.) and as a case study the isolation of a pump located in the building. Steel springs were used and it was achieved to reduce the vibration transmitted to the floor by more than 99%, to a level where the coherent component of the motion recorded on the floor next to the linear accelerator is non-measurable / below the ground motions. The measurements were found to be in good accordance with the FEM model used.