ASG

ASG is the world leader in the field of superconducting magnetic systems design, construction and testing capabilities for high energy physics and thermonuclear fusion applications. Its competencies range from design and manufacturing, up to testing of complete superconducting magnet systems.

The company's capabilities range from the design to the production and testing of superconducting magnets. ASG recently began diversifying its activities through its subsidiaries Paramed and Columbus Superconductors. In particular the company is broadening its reach into biomedical applications (diagnosis and therapy) and designing and developing magnetic systems for the energy industry (SMES, SFCL, wind turbines, energy transport systems).

ASG Superconductors collaborates, in Italy and abroad, with the leading companies in the industry as well as with the main scientific research institutes and centers.

ASG Headquarters, with administrative offices and four production bays covering 15,000 sq m, is located in Genoa. In 2010, after winning the international contract to build 10 superconducting coils for the ITER project, ASG built a new production facility in La Spezia.

Quality, Environment and Security are part of the most relevant duties of ASG Superconductors' policy and involve every aspect of the company's activities, from organization to design and manufacturing.

To maintain the highest standard of services and production quality, ASG Superconductors invests constantly in professional training and re-qualification of its employees.

It is corporate policy to hold regular qualification and certification courses for the personnel, with particular reference to: CAD, job management, informatics systems.

Aside from certifications obtained and maintained over the years, ASG can leverage expertise and excellences in design and productive traditions. The company's technology and design center - home to a multidisciplinary team of technicians, physicists and engineers - constitutes a reference point for all manner of requests coming from the industrial and research worlds.

Role:

ASG is going to be WP5 Leader and will be involved in all the other WPs.

Relevant Projects:

CYCLADS

CYCLotrons for Accelerator Driven Systems, Innovative Single Stage Cyclotron for High Power Applications, to be approved, Horizon 2020, CERN

Additional Information

Infrastructure

The company’s head office, where managers, physicists, engineers and production technicians work side by side, is situated in Genoa, near both the city’s port and airport. The factory is divided into four bays covering a total surface area of 15,000 sq m. This is the original site of the company, dating back to when it formed part of the Ansaldo Group. Between 2010 and 2012 the production area was totally refurbished in a project that also involved the extension of the Clean Area (controlled temperature and humidity areas complying with specific environment and air cleaning procedures), which now occupies 3,000 sq m.

In 2010, after winning the international contract to build 10 superconducting coils for the ITER project, ASG began work on a new production facility in La Spezia, also in Liguria and close to the port, which was completed in less than 18 months. The new ASG Superconductors production facility contains four bays, covers a total surface area of 25,000 sq m and is fitted with the new technology and logistics equipment needed to manufacture and handle large-scale components, like the superconducting coils for the ITER project now in production, which exceed 15 meters in length and weigh over one tons each. The factory also has a clean area (controlled temperature and humidity areas complying with specific environment and air cleaning procedures) that covers 4,600 sq m and meets ISO Class 8 standards.

ASG has independent R&D laboratories inside the headquarters.

ASG Superconductors is part of the Malacalza family’s high tech supply chain. This includes Paramed, known for its “open” MRI machines (based on a unique magnet design and innovative diagnostic imaging solutions), and Columbus Superconductors, producer of an innovative superconducting cable in Magnesium diboride (MgB2). Both companies has independent research premises.

Columbus Superconductors is a company focused on the R&D and commercialization of new superconducting materials like MgB2.Columbus has developed a proprietary method to manufacture MgB2 wires, in such a way that its products are mechanically robust, reproducible and low cost compared to the other HST currently developed in form of long conductors. The reliability of the MgB2 wires has been already demonstrated by the realization of a number of real-scale prototype devices, such as open-MRI systems, induction heaters, fault current limiters and numerous other magnets.

Paramed Medical Systems develops and produces open MRI systems with unique characteristics in terms of performance and patient comfort. Thanks to the synthesis of design and technology, Paramed offers advanced diagnostic imaging solutions that can create value for all those who operate in this sector. The company’s flagship product, MrOpen, is the only “open” superconducting MRI system, realizable thanks to the design of the magnet that allows for carrying out stress-load exams, which in turn offer patients the most comfort. Behind Paramed’s success is a team of professionals who bring together experience and competence with an authentic passion for the healthcare and magnetic resonance sectors and which every day work to serve technicians and patients.

Key Personnel

A. Pellecchia is the Manager of Sales and Commercial Department. He has been Sales and Commercial Manager of ASG. He has been working in ASG for 12 years. He has a physics education and specialization in control systems.

R.Marabotto is the Manager of Engineering Department. He has been Team Leader for High Energy Physics Applications, R&D on Experimental devices in MgB2 and for medical applications. He has been working in ASG (and before in Ansaldo Energia) for 30 years and has developed superconducting cryogen free MRI magnets, the construction technique of the LHC superconducting dipoles and more recently a superconducting magnet for medical cyclotrons.

A.Capelluto (PhD) is the engineer in charge of the computations and analysis. He is an expert of Finite Element Analysis and has developed code for magnetic, mechanical and thermal analyses. He has been working in ASG since 2008 and he is involved in the design of superconducting magnetic devices with specific demands of field (MRI magnets and particle accelerators, development of procedures for the calculation of the magnetic field produced by complex configurations of conductors, development and application of code for magnetic shimming for MRI magnets, development of code for analysis of thermo-magnetic superconducting devices and magnetic field measurements with high precision.

Publications

R. Marabotto - “Compact Superconducting High Gradient Quadrupole Magnets for the Interaction Regions of High Luminosity Colliders”, IEEE Trans. on Applied Superconductivity, vol. 23, no. 3, 2013

R. Marabotto - “Engineering Design of a Special Purpose Functional Magnetic Resonance Scanner Magnet”, IEEE Trans. on Applied Superconductivity, vol. 23, no. 3, 2013

S.Angius et al, “Construction and Operation of Cryogen Free MgB2 Magnets for Open MRI Systems”, IEEE Trans. On Applied Supercond. Volume 18 No 2, 2008, 882-886.

CERN Accelerating science

CYCLADS

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