Case Study: DESY achieves reliable 24/7 accelerator performance with nVent SCHROFF MTCA.4 enclosures

Protecting Sensitive Equipment for a Cutting edge Particle Accelerator Facility in Germany

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), one of Germany’s leading accelerator centers, needed a highly reliable way to protect and connect sensitive electronics for the European XFEL particle accelerator. The challenge was to support near-continuous operation in a harsh environment with extreme precision, fast data transfer, synchronization, redundancy, and remote management capabilities. nVent, through its SCHROFF line of enclosures, was selected to help address these requirements.

nVent worked with DESY and other research partners to develop MTCA.4, a new enclosure standard based on microTCA but enhanced for accelerator applications. nVent manufactured 250 MTCA.4 crates for the European XFEL, providing fast data connections, redundancy, remote monitoring, shielding, and spot cooling. The result has been smooth operation since day one, with DESY reporting no crate failures in the facility and the accelerator running reliably to support around-the-clock scientific research.

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron

Kay Rehlich

Engineer