afc module tender action scope

Confidential Not for DistributionAFC Module Tender Action

Scope

The tender called for 2 AFC modules to be ordered immediately with the option for the 3rd module to be ordered later pending on funding.

Supply to include

• Final engineering design, manufacture, at works acceptance test, delivery and on site acceptance test.

Requested delivery from receipt of order for the 3 modules was:-

•Module 1 18 months

•Module 2 24 Months

•Module 3 30 months

Confidential Not for DistributionPre-tender activities:-

Intent to tender was advertised in the European Journal on 4th April 2007

3 Companies in the USA were informed of the intent to tender

• From the spectrometer magnet list Cryomagnetics Inc, American Magnetics Inc and Wang NMR

Pre-qualification questionnaires were sent out to those who expressed interest to bid.

5 companies expressed interest. They were:-

TeslaCryogenicBabcock NoellAccelASG Superconductor

•Wang NMR claimed they did not receive the notification for pre-qualification. They were re-sent the notification and were subsequently included in the tender list.

Pre-qualification meeting held on 22nd May

Scientific Magnetics (UK) declined due to full order book.

All those who responded positively were considered technically competent to bid for the project.

Confidential Not for DistributionSequence of AFC tender activities:-

AFC Technical Specification: Final Version issued on the 29th of June

Draft tender documentation prepared on 18th of June

Tender documentation included:

Tender contractual documentsTechnical SpecificationSelection Criteria Drawing Package – referred to link::http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/design/MICE/MICE-AFC-dwg/AFC_Drawing%20Page1.htm

Tender released on 29th June 2007

Deadline for bid return on 13th August

Tender Review on 20th Aug

Confidential Not for DistributionSequence of AFC tender activities:-

Tender Review

Tender Review Committee Members

STFC

R Elliot, T Bradshaw, E Baynham

Oxford

W Lau, J Cobb

LBNL

M Green

MICE

K Long – attended for summing up and actions

Objective was to review 5 bids received against the preset evaluation criteria

From the 6 companies invited to tender Cryogenics declined to bid

Confidential Not for DistributionOutcome of the tender review meeting

The Tesla offers attained the highest overall evaluation marking

Although WANG NMR bid the lowest price for the basic item, the overall cost was similar to the Tesla offer when cost of supervision was included. The Wang bid had very little information for evaluation against the set criteria. This made their overall evaluation marking very low and effectively excluded them from further consideration. The second offer in terms of evaluation criteria was Ansaldo. The Ansaldo bid was ~ 20% more expensive than Tesla.

The committee agreed to proceed with a more detailed evaluation of the Tesla offer through a works visit

Confidential Not for DistributionBid Clarification

A bid clarification meeting was held with Tesla on the 27th of September.

Tesla M Begg, B Leigh, S Bates, R Fellowes, F Goldie, M Nakatsu

Oxford J Cobb, W Lau

STFC T Bradshaw, E Baynham

Executive Summary

Purpose and scope of the meeting

•Review Tesla Technical proposal in detail

•Assess Tesla staff and manufacturing facilities

•Schedule

•QA

•Clarification of contract points

Confidential Not for DistributionBid Clarification - Executive Summary

Review of Tesla Technical proposal

Conductor

Tesla confirmed their modelling of peak fields and operating margins

Tesla are able to offer 2 conductors

•The specified conductor

•An alternative with higher critical/lower Cu:Sc – this will give more temperature margin but quench protection needs to be confirmed

Both conductors are available as single piece lengths at no extra cost

Quench

•Tesla have understood the issue about quenchback when/if the coil is not bonded to the mandrel

•Tesla have proposed an alternative quench spreading model which needs to be assessed in detail

•Tesla have a copy of the latest VF quench software and will use this for final design



Coil stresses

Tesla have made initial studies using semi-analytic and VF Opera2D

They understood the link between coil bonding and coil stresses

The will use ANSYS for the final detailed studies – this is in progress

Coil Mandrel and Former

•Primary electrical ground plane insulation is defined – inter-layer insulation is to be confirmed

•Coil manufacturing tolerance estimates were within acceptable levels

•The welding of the closure plates is a critical area. Tesla will make full scale weld tests to reduce risk, qualify welds and welders, qualify inspection methods.



Cold mass supports

Tesla have made estimates of the worst case forces for the MICE modes

Asymmetric quenching within a module could in principle lead to high forces – this needs to be analysed in more detail

The manufacture and test of the support bands is understood – Tesla will work closely with an established manufacturer

Thermal Design

•Tesla presented their methodology and analysis

•The principles were considered sound

•More detailed analysis will be made at the design stage



Cryocoolers

Tesla are doing cooler connection and performance tests at their US company Everson Electric

They understood the problems of operation in the stray fields

•Stray field maps need to be confirmed

•The requirements/feasibility for shielding studied

•The cooler choice would need to be made as part of the initial design study

Overall Assembly and Tests

•Tesla proposals were discussed

•They proposed to revise the magnet vacuum vessel profile to eliminate conflict between the cold mass supports and vessel sealing welds

•Tesla have the capacity to do more detailed field mapping than specified – this will be at additional cost


Review of Tesla Schedule and QA

Schedule

•Requested - Module 1 - 18 months f.r.o. Offer – 12 months

•Requested - Module 2 - 24 Months f.r.o. Offer – 18 months

•Tesla schedule is aggressive

•RAL/Oxford – believe more time should be allocated at the design/review stage to get the design right

•Tesla schedule is based on delivery quotes for all the big items

QA

•Tesla are ISO accredited

•Tesla are doing work with Fusion groups at ITER and MPI under QA control

•Basis is QIPP (Quality Inspection and production Plan) developed with ITER and now used on all projects – travellers for all elements within the overall structure


Review

Current Programmes

•Tesla have 3 main sc magnet projects at present

•W7X stellarator– coil manufacture, ITER conductor joint fabrication, Nb3Sn Coil fabrication (react and wind coil similar scale to AFC)

•Large programme of conventional gradient coils for MRI

•W7X work is due to finish end 07 – will release capacity

Facilities and Personnel

•In-house facilities for coil winding and impregnation + personnel with experience

•In-house facilities for machining – except rolling large vessels – they claim this is important for their schedule

•Clean areas for vacuum testing to uhv and assembly of parts

•Personnel with expertise in magnet design, thermal design, project control

Confidential Not for DistributionRecommendations

Summary of recommendations to the MICE TB

The Tesla offer was the most competitive when assessed against the bid evaluation criteria and cost

The offer is compatible with the MICE schedule with some margin

The bid evaluation visit confirmed that Tesla had put a lot of effort into the bid preparation

The design team was satisfied from the bid evaluation visit that Tesla have the combination of facilities and personnel to undertake the manufacture of the AFC modules

Input will be required from the design teams at Oxford and RAL to ensure the design meets the MICE specification and is executed to the correct QA standards – this would be true for any bidder at some level

The design team recommends that the MICE Technical Board approves the proposal to place the contract with Tesla

afc module tender action scope

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