161715 20251017144628.0 doi 10.1088/1748-0221/20/02/P02016 sideral 144337 ART-2025-144337 eng Acerbi, F. Benchmarking the design of the cryogenics system for the underground argon in DarkSide-20k 2025 Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted DarkSide-20k (DS-20k) is a dark matter detection experiment under construction at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy. It utilises ∼ 100 t of low radioactivity argon from an underground source (UAr) in its inner detector, with half serving as target in a dual-phase time projection chamber (TPC). The UAr cryogenics system must maintain stable thermodynamic conditions throughout the experiment's lifetime of over 10 years. Continuous removal of impurities and radon from the UAr is essential for maximising signal yield and mitigating background. We are developing an efficient and powerful cryogenics system with a gas purification loop with a target circulation rate of 1000 slpm. Central to its design is a condenser operated with liquid nitrogen which is paired with a gas heat exchanger cascade, delivering a combined cooling power of more than 8 kW. Here we present the design choices in view of the DS-20k requirements, in particular the condenser's working principle and the cooling control, and we show test results obtained with a dedicated benchmarking platform at CERN and LNGS. We find that the thermal efficiency of the recirculation loop, defined in terms of nitrogen consumption per argon flow rate, is 95 % and the pressure in the test cryostat can be maintained within ±(0.1–0.2) mbar. We further detail a 5-day cool-down procedure of the test cryostat, maintaining a cooling rate typically within -2 K/h, as required for the DS-20k inner detector. Additionally, we assess the circuit's flow resistance, and the heat transfer capabilities of two heat exchanger geometries for argon phase change, used to provide gas for recirculation. We conclude by discussing how our findings influence the finalisation of the system design, including necessary modifications to meet requirements and ongoing testing activities. info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/AEI/PID2022-138357NB-C22 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/952480/EU/Novel technologies for dark matter search and frontier astroparticle physics experiments/DarkWave This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No H2020 952480-DarkWave info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess by https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.es info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Adhikari, P. Agnes, P. Ahmad, I. Albergo, S. Albuquerque, I.F.M. Alexander, T. Alton, A.K. Amaudruz, P. Angiolilli, M. Aprile, E. Ardito, R. Atzori Corona, M. Auty, D.J. Ave, M. Avetisov, I.C. Azzolini, O. Back, H.O. Balmforth, Z. Barrado Olmedo, A. Barrillon, P. Batignani, G. Bhowmick, P. Blua, S. Bocci, V. Bonivento, W. Bottino, B. Boulay, M.G. Buchowicz, A. Bussino, S. Busto, J. Cadeddu, M. Cadoni, M. Calabrese, R. Camillo, V. Caminata, A. Canci, N. Capra, A. Caravati, M. Cárdenas-Montes, M. Cargioli, N. Carlini, M. Castellani, A. Castello, P. Cavalcante, P. Cebrian, S. Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-6948-5101 Cela Ruiz, J. Chashin, S. Chepurnov, A. Cifarelli, L. Cintas, D. (orcid)0000-0001-5187-2640 Citterio, M. Cleveland, B. Coadou, Y. Cocco, V. Colaiuda, D. Conde Vilda, E. Consiglio, L. Costa, B.S. Czubak, M. D'Aniello, M. D'Auria, S. Da Rocha Rolo, M.D. Darbo, G. Davini, S. De Cecco, S. De Guido, G. Dellacasa, G. Derbin, A.V. Devoto, A. Di Capua, F. Di Ludovico, A. Di Noto, L. Di Stefano, P. Dias, L.K. Díaz Mairena, D. Ding, X. Dionisi, C. Dolganov, G. Dordei, F. Dronik, V. Elersich, A. Ellingwood, E. Erjavec, T. Fernandez Diaz, M. Ficorella, A. Fiorillo, G. Franchini, P. Franco, D. Frandini Gatti, H. Frolov, E. Gabriele, F. Gahan, D. Galbiati, C. Galinski, G. Gallina, G. Gallus, G. Garbini, M. Garcia Abia, P. Gawdzik, A. Gendotti, A. Ghisi, A. Giovanetti, G.K. Goicoechea Casanueva, V. Gola, A. Grandi, L. Grauso, G. Grilli di Cortona, G. Grobov, A. Gromov, M. Guerzoni, M. Gulino, M. Guo, C. Hackett, B.R. Hallin, A. Hamer, A. Haranczyk, M. Harrop, B. Hessel, T. Hill, S. Horikawa, S. Hu, J. Hubaut, F. Hucker, J. Hugues, T. Hungerford, E.V. Ianni, A. Ippolito, V. Jamil, A. Jillings, C. Jois, S. Kachru, P. Keloth, R. Kemmerich, N. Kemp, A. Kendziora, C.L. Kimura, M. Kish, A. Kondo, K. Korga, G. Kotsiopoulou, L. Koulosousas, S. Kubankin, A. Kunzé, P. Kuss, M. Kuzniak, M. Kuzwa, M. La Commara, M. Lai, M. Le Guirriec, E. Leason, E. Leoni, A. Lidey, L. Lissia, M. Luzzi, L. Lychagina, O. Macfadyen, O. Machulin, I.N. Manecki, S. Manthos, I. Mapelli, L. Marasciulli, A. Mari, S.M. Mariani, C. Maricic, J. Martinez, M. Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-9043-4691 Martoff, C.J. Matteucci, G. Mavrokoridis, K. McDonald, A.B. Mclaughlin, J. Merzi, S. Messina, A. Milincic, R. Minutoli, S. Mitra, A. Moharana, A. Moioli, S. Monroe, J. Moretti, E. Morrocchi, M. Mroz, T. Muratova, V.N. Murphy, M. Murra, M. Muscas, C. Musico, P. Nania, R. Nessi, M. Nieradka, G. Nikolopoulos, K. Nikoloudaki, E. Nowak, J. Olchanski, K. Oleinik, A. Oleynikov, V. Organtini, P. Ortiz de Solórzano, A. Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0001-8278-6032 Pallavicini, M. Pandola, L. Pantic, E. Paoloni, E. Papi, D. Pastuszak, G. Paternoster, G. Peck, A. Pegoraro, P.A. Pelczar, K. Pellegrini, L.A. Perez, R. Perotti, F. Pesudo, V. Piacentini, S.I. Pino, N. Plante, G. Pocar, A. Poehlmann, M. 2004 X Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Física Teórica Área Técnica. Lab. y Talleres 2004 390 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Física Teórica Área Física Atóm.Molec.y Nucl. 20, 02 (2025), P02016 [45 pp.] Journal of Instrumentation Journal of Instrumentation 1748-0221 15876748 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/161715/files/texto_completo.pdf Versión publicada 1926057 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/161715/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Versión publicada oai:zaguan.unizar.es:161715 articulos driver 2025-10-17-14:25:14 ARTICLE