Thermal issues associated with the HVAC and lighting systems influences on the performance of the national ignition facility beam transport tubes

This report summarizes an investigation of the thermal issues related to the National Ignition Facility. In particular, the influences of the HVAC system and lighting fixtures on the operational performance of the laser guide beam tubes are reviewed and discussed. An analytical model of the oscillating HVAC air temperatures in the NIF switchyard and target bay will cause significant amounts of beam distortion. However, these negative effects can be drastically reduced by adding thermal insulation to the outside of the beam tubes. A computational fluid dynamics model and an analytical investigation found that the light-fixture to beam-tube separation distance must be on the order of 5.7 m (18.7 ft) to maintain acceptable beam operating performance in the current NIF design. By reducing the fluorescent light fixture power by 33% this separation distance can be reduced to 3.5 m (11.5 ft). If in addition, thermal insulation with a reflective aluminum foil covering is added to the outside of the beam tubes, the separation distance can be reduced further to 1.6m (5.2 ft). A 1.27 cm (0.5 in.) rigid foam insulation sheet with aluminum foil covering will provide adequate insulation for the beam tubes in the NIF switchyards and target bay. The material cost for this amount of insulation would be roughly $30,000