The art of engineering usually means mastery of the knowledge and skills required to design and manufacture devices that enable top technical performance. In five pictures, this gallery shows that the term can also be understood differently if the devices are regarded as works of art with their very own aesthetic, apart from their actual function.
The electron source: This is where the journey of the eponymous free electrons of the X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL begins. Inside the source, the size of an automobile wheel, electrons are knocked out of a semiconductor layer and accelerated to almost the speed of light in the first few centimetres of their way. That’s how rapidly they emerge from the central opening of the electron source. For perfect acceleration, the interior of the source must have an extremely smooth copper surface. Therefore the final treatment of the surface employed a special diamond machining technique. The high acceleration energy in the electron source also causes the critical components to heat up. A crown of stainless steel water pipes counteracts this and keeps the temperature constant with a deviation of just a few thousandths of a degree Celsius.
(Photo: Scanderbeg Sauer Photography)
(Photo: Scanderbeg Sauer Photography)
Patient table for proton therapy: At PSI, patients suffering from certain types of cancer are treated with proton beams. The protons destroy the tumour efficiently and hardly damage the surrounding healthy tissue. It is crucial for the success of the treatment that the beam hits the tumour exactly. This patient table, to which the couch is attached on which in turn the patient rests, contributes to this. The table can be moved with millimetre precision so that the patient can be positioned precisely in the beam. However, under the weight of the couch and patient, the table inevitably bends. One of the engineering achievements of this table is therefore that the curvature can be accurately predicted and thus taken into account when planning each patient’s treatment. The table was developed in cooperation between PSI and Schaer Proton AG from Flaach in the canton of Zurich. Schaer Proton now sells patient tables to proton therapy centres around the world.
(Photo: Scanderbeg Sauer Photography)
(Photo: Scanderbeg Sauer Photography)
High-frequency amplifier: This piece of electrical engineering, as tall as a person, is still a prototype that is undergoing extensive testing. Soon, however, this amplifier will generate a strong alternating electric field that will further accelerate the electrons of SLS. The electrons accelerated in this way then emit the characteristic X-ray light that is used in numerous experiments. The forerunners of this amplifier, which are still in use, are so-called klystrons. They are significantly larger and require extensive additional equipment, for example for cooling and shielding. The new amplifier also has the advantage that it consists of 108 identical components. The individual components are arranged in six columns and connected to one another with many cables, so that their effects add up. Should one of these components become defective, replacing it would be straightforward. Engineers and technicians at PSI developed and built the amplifier prototype. It is now being produced under a PSI licence by the Aargau company Ampegon AG.
(Photo: Scanderbeg Sauer Photography)
(Photo: Scanderbeg Sauer Photography)
Quadrupole magnet: This quadrupole magnet, approximately 20 centimetres in size, is one of hundreds of specially developed magnets that are used in PSI's particle accelerators. They all ensure that the particle beams in the accelerators follow the specified paths exactly and are therefore essential for the high quality of the large research facilities at PSI. The magnets are designed in close cooperation between physicists and engineers – the physicists define the properties that the magnets must have, and the engineers search for solutions to implement them in practice. Since it is not possible to design and build the magnets from the outset in such a way that they meet the high requirements, the physicists and engineers have to measure the finished magnets and "qualify" them for use in the accelerator. With large-scale production, they continue to optimise the production process over time. The required magnetic measuring systems were developed by PSI in collaboration with CERN and represent a high level of engineering in themselves.
(Photo: Scanderbeg Sauer Photography)
(Photo: Scanderbeg Sauer Photography)
Magnet structure: Magnet structures like this are the centrepiece of the undulators in the X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL. Two at a time, such 33-centimetre-long magnet structures are mounted mirror-inverted on top of each other over a distance of 60 metres. In between there is a horizontal gap of around three millimetres through which the electrons, accelerated to almost the speed of light, fly. The golden yellow parts of the magnet structures are small individual magnets made of neodymium. The magnets force the electrons onto a narrow slalom course, which causes them to emit SwissFEL’s special light. To enable optimal adjustment of the magnetic field for the electrons at every point along their route, the height of each individual magnet can be adjusted slightly with a screw. The row of screws can be seen on the lower edge of the magnet structure. Physicists and engineers at PSI developed this ingenious adjustment mechanism – and they built a robot to match it, which automatically moves along the undulator track and adjusts all of the screws.
(Photo: Scanderbeg Sauer Photography)
(Photo: Scanderbeg Sauer Photography)
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