Minutes from REX shutdown meeting 2005-12-14

 

Present: Mats Lindroos, Didier Voulot, Nikolai Trofimov, Nicolas David, Fredrik Wenander and Luis Fraile

 

 

General

 

* A summary of the spending at REX was presented. This will be transmitted to Karsten Riisager for budget planning 2006.

 

* The time for the first experimental run 2006 was discussed. The boundary constraints are:

            new control system and application programmes that very likely needs debugging

            stop in the LHe delivery between 26/2and 26/3

            no cooling water until the 20/2

            3 weeks test of new postanode gun inside the EBIS

            RF work finished the 10/4         

            Didier and Fredrik away for two weeks in mid April

 

* The BDI group is now working on VME solution for the FC readout.

 

* A post partly dedicated to REX operation and maintenance has been advertised within the operator’s group.

 

* The outcome from the NUPAC meeting in October was positively for REX. The scientific policy committee strongly endorses an energy upgrade of the REX beam. The financing of this will be discussed at the research board in June 2006. 

 

 

TRAP and EBIS

 

* REXTRAP has delivered beam to the Witch experiment the last week. Witch still have some beam transfer problems in the ramped drift tube.

 

* The trap and EBIS are now stopped, vacuum still running. The complete REX vacuum will be stopped on Tuesday.

 

* Fredrik will do the LN2 filling for REXTRAP and ISOLTRAP the second week of the holidays.

 

* Sven and Jari are progressing with the implementation of the slow extraction in the EBIS control system.

 

* A new gun including a post anode has been designed and is now being mounted. HV tests will be carried out before Christmas. The design of a completely new high current and high compression gun is more difficult than expected. Until now no evident solution found to the problem.

 

* Klaus Blaum at Mainz has sent an application to the German BMBF for an upgrade of the trap and EBIS system to enable charge breeding of heavier masses. The application also includes a request for a PhD/fellow.

 

 

LINAC

 

* The vacuum and beam diagnostics maintenance will take place in January.

 

* The RF work will commence thereafter. The RF group plan to finish their work by April 10. people from Bertronix will come over in February to work on the 200 MHz amplifier.

 

* Alberto Facco and Andrea Pisent from Legnaro will come to CERN to discuss the alternative of superconducting cavities for the REX energy upgrade. A meeting with the REX team and the RF group is scheduled to Thursday 12 January 2006.

 

* Didier will go to Frankfurt in January to discuss IH cavity design with Uli Ratzinger for the energy upgrades 5.5 and 10 MeV/u.

 

* The Russian track financed by the ISTC programme is still followed. By next mid year we should have a decision for what solution to choose for the 10 MeV/u upgrade.

 

* Mats will go to Munich to discuss a BMBF application for the energy upgrade with Dieter Habs, Peter Thirolf and Reinard Krucken.

 

 

Control system

 

* The effects of the separation between a general and a technical network will be found out after the implementation the 9/1. Computers on each side of the wall that need to communicate should be listed in a database and thereafter have mutual access. Sylvestre Catin follows the problem.

 

* The migration to the new beam optics control system continues. The power supplies and control hardware has been (irreversible) exchanged. The AB/OP group has taken on the responsibility to produce application programmes for the end of the shutdown.

 

* The hardware solution to be proposed by the BDI group is still pending. We will most likely run with the present beam observation system also for 2006 since there is no manpower available for the application programming. A new VME-based system for the FCs will run in parallel with a gateway to the old PC controlled system.

 

* Didier will arrange a follow-up meeting in mid January addressing the general progress, application programmes issues and interaction between the groups etc.

 

* What console types to use for the new control system will be decided by the application programming people. Presently we have a Linux machine in the control room that could be used.

 

 

 

Minutes taken by Fredrik Wenander