Geneva, 1 December 1998. The 7th German technology fair "Germany at CERN 1998" which is being held in CERN¹'s main building from the 1st to 3rd of December, provides the opportunity to extend and deepen the longstanding collaboration between German industry and CERN. This collaboration enables the research community to carry out experiments at an ever higher technical level and industry to gain access to up-to-date know-how and cutting-edge technology. Such joint developments between CERN and industry prepare the ground for further technological innovation.

The exhibition was opened today by CERN's Director General, Prof. Chris Llewellyn Smith and Ministerialdirigent Dr Hans C. Eschelbacher of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) who welcomed the exhibitors. In his address at the inauguration of the "Germany at CERN 1998" Ministerialdirigent Dr Hans C. Eschelbacher explained: "The German industrial exhibition is an excellent forum whereby the longstanding cooperation between Germany and CERN can be intensified." Prof. Chris Llewellyn Smith stressed the importance of Germany's contribution to the Laboratory's scientific programme. He was very impressed to see such a large number of companies representing a very wide range of leading technologies at the exhibition.

German industry, has made impressive contributions to the success of the work on the LHC in such fields as superconducting magnets, cryotechnology for the production and distribution of liquid helium, vacuum systems and detector construction, to name only a few. These examples prove that German industry is successfully confronting the technical challenges posed by the LHC.

The cryogenic system chosen for the LHC is a perfect example of the innovative technology that has been developed and in which German industry is already playing an important role. It uses superfluid helium, which has unusually efficient heat transfer properties, allowing kilowatts of refrigeration to be transported over more than a kilometre with a temperature drop of less than 0.1 K. LHC superconducting magnets will sit in a 1.9 K bath of superfluid helium at atmospheric pressure. This bath will be cooled by low pressure liquid helium flowing in heat exchanger tubes threaded along the string of magnets. The reliability and efficacy of this sophisticated cryoloop are key factors in achieving the required magnet performance. The LHC cryogenic system is very large as well as very cold. Refrigeration power equivalent to over 140 kW at 4.5 K is distributed around the 27 km ring. In all, LHC cryogenics will need 40,000 leak-tight pipe junctions, 12 million litres of liquid nitrogen will be vaporised during the initial cooldown of 31,000 tons of material and the total inventory of liquid helium will be 700,000 litres.

The 43 German high-tech companies displaying their most recent range of products, illustrate German industry's ambition to play a full part in CERN's present and future scientific projects. Several have successfully taken part in technical projects at CERN and other European laboratories, developing the necessary components in close cooperation with the research centres.

The exhibition is open until the evening of 3 December and there is a full accompanying programme of lectures given by German industrial specialists.

List of exhibitors

1. Accel Instruments GmbH
2. Aicon GmbH
3. Alcatel Kabel AG & Co.
4. Apparatebau Goslar
5. Apra-norm Elektromechanik GmbH
6. Balcke-Dürr GmbH
7. DSD Dillinger Stahlbau GmbH
8. Eckelmann Industrieautomation
9. FMB Feinwerk-und Messtechnik GmbH
10. F. u. G. Elektronik GmbH
11. Hartmann & Braun GmbH & Co. KG
12. HEW Kabel Heinz Eilentropp GmbH &  Co. KG
13. ILK Institit f.Luft-u. Kältetechnik GmbH
14. Integral Energietechnik GmbH
15. Iseg Spezialelektronik GmbH
16. Klöckner-Moeller GmbH
17. KNF Neuberger GmbH
18. Knürr Nechanik für die Elektronik AG
19. Kraftanlagen Nukleartechnik GmbH
20. Leonische Drahtwerke AG
21. Leybold Vakuum GmbH
22. Liederer + Partner GmbH
23. Linde AG
24. Logotron AG (CH), Representing:
    - Ernst Fischer GmbH
    - Hameg GmbH
    - Toellner Electronic Instrumente GmbH
25. Messer Griesheim GmbH
26. NIS Ingenieur GmbH
27. Noell-KRC Energie-u. Umwelttechnik GmbH
28. Oswald Elektromotoren GmbH
29. Panametrics GmbH
30. Pfeiffer Vacuum GmbH
31. Piepenbrock GmbH & Co. KG
32. Pink GmbH
33. Plansee GmbH
34. KG Ritz Messwandler GmbH & Co.
35. Saskia Hochvakuum-und Labortechnik GmbH
36. Siemens Nixdorf AG
37. Hans Skodock GmbH
38. Spinner GmbH
39. Sulzer-Escher Wyss GmbH
40. Vacuumschmelze GmbH
41. Vero Electronics GmbH
42. Wes-Crates GmbH
43. W-Ie-Ne-R, Plein & Baus GmbH

Exhibition organizer

BMBF
Bundesministerium für Bildung, und Forschung

Heinemannstrasse 2
D - 53170 Bonn
Dr B. Schöneseiffen
Tel. (+49 228) 57 38 17
Fax (+49 228) 57 36 26

DEGA Expoteam GmbH & Co Ausstellungs KG

Dorfstrasse 43
D 82418 Riegsee
Mr Wilhelm Ball
Tel. (+49 88) 41 20 05/96 60
Fax (+49 88) 41 99 166

Information at CERN: L. Abel / Division SPL -  tel. (+4122) 767 9561

1. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Romania is a candidate for accession. Israel is an Associate Member in the pre-stage to Membership. India, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.