RHIC power supplies: lessons learned from the 1999 - 2001 RHIC runs

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) was commissioned in 1999 and 2000. The two RHIC rings require a total of 933 power supplies (PSs) to supply currents to highly inductive superconducting magnets. These units function as 4 main PSs, 237 insertion region (IR) PSs, 24 sextupole PSs, 24 Gamma-T PSs, 8 snake PSs, 16 spin rotator PSs, and 620 correction PSs. PS reliability in this type of machine is of utmost importance because the IR PSs are nested within other IR PSs, and these are all nested within the main PSs. This means if any main or IR PS trips off due to a PS fault or quench indication, then all the IR and main PSs in that ring must follow. When this happens, the Quench Protection Assemblies (QPA's) for each unit disconnects the PSs from the circuit and absorb the stored energy in the magnets. Commissioning these power supplies and QPA's was and still is a learning experience. A summary of the major problems encountered during these first three RHIC runs will be presented along with solutions.