Thermodynamics of superconducting magnets

Superconducting magnets, currently installed in accelerators, operate at cryogenic temperatures. In hadron colliders such as the LHC, the energy deposited in the superconductors by the particles lost from the beams or coming from the collision debris may increase the conductor temperature above critical one and provoke quenches detrimental to the accelerator operation. A thermal analysis of superconducting magnets were performed in order to study the magnet heat evacuation scheme and to determine quench levels in the LHC magnets for expected beam loss profiles. The thermal-electrical analogy, where electrical circuits are used to model the thermal quantities will be presented.