Accelerator Update for February 11, 2008 - February 13, 2008

Monday February 11

The day shift began with Operations monitoring the Tevatron (TeV) store 5899 (62.14E30) and the Recycler stash (232.0E10), with the Antiproton Source stacking (12.5E10), with the Main Injector (MI), Linac, and Booster operating normally, with the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) and D-Zero (D0) using the colliding beams, and with the NuMI and SciBooNE / MiniBooNE (BNB) experiments taking beam.

At 8:33 AM, a Booster RF station (BRF9) tripped off. It reset.

Operations reported at 8:42 AM that Pbar’s antiproton production had dropped over the last couple of days. An expert moved the nickel target, used to make antiprotons, to its next position.

Operations reported at 8:48 AM that they had rebooted the Pelletron’s Front End (DCE14) because its autotune program had stopped responding.

At 9:41 AM, BRF15 tripped off for the first of two times in two minutes. It reset.

An MI expert began a collimator study at 9:50 AM.

At 9:58 AM, the Booster damper tripped off. An expert investigated.

At 11:14 AM, Operations reported that the Pelletron was tripping off, possibly due to the MI collimator studies. A Pelletron expert investigated.

At 1:11 PM, Operations reported that a Pbar Debuncher RF station (DRF1-6) was acting erratically.

At 1:25 PM, two Booster vacuum valves (VLNLAM & VLNDMP) closed. Operators could not find a vacuum problem and opened the valves.

Pbar experts began a Pbar Debuncher cooling study at 1:35 PM.

Operations terminated store 5899 at 2:15 PM.

Operations prepared CDF and D0 for an access at 2:34 PM.

Cryo system technicians began work on the TeV sectors A3 wet engine at 2:35 PM.

At 2:57 PM, BRF9 tripped off. It reset.

D0 came out of access at 3:54 PM.

A Booster expert reported at 3:57 PM that he was beginning work on their damper system.

Operations reported at 4:10 PM that the Recycler had stashed antiprotons four times during the day shift.

The MI collimator studies ended at 4:18 PM.

The Pbar cooling studies ended at 5 PM. Pbar experts reported that they had also conducted some stacktail gain ramping studies during this time period. They left the stacktail gain ramping on.

CDF came out of access at 6:18 PM.

Operations put the TeV through a dry squeeze at 7:08 PM.

Operations put the TeV into a shot setup at 7:37 PM.

At 7:44 PM, LRF3 tripped off for the first of three times in 20 minutes on a permanent inhibit. It reset.

Operations established store 5901 at 9:52 PM with an initial luminosity of 250.12E30.

Operations prepared the Pelletron for access at 9:54 PM. The experts came out and then went back in.

At 10:15 PM, LRF2 tripped off. It reset.

The Pelletron access ended at 10:19 PM. The Pelletron resumed normal operations.

At 11:33 PM, a Linac Klystron RF station (KRF7) tripped off. It reset.

Operations reported at midnight that the Recycler had stashed three times during the evening shift.

Tuesday February 12

The midnight shift began with Operations monitoring store 5901 (112.49E30) and the stash (120.7E10), with Pbar stacking (21.6E10), and with NuMI and BNB taking beam.

At 1:27 AM, KRF7 tripped off. It reset.

At 1:35 AM, KRF4 tripped off. It reset.

At 2:13 AM, a Pbar Debuncher RF station (DRF1-3) tripped off and would not reset.

At 2:57 AM, BRF9 tripped off. It reset.

At 3:59 AM, KRF7 tripped off for the first of two times in about two hours. It reset.

At 6:08 AM, KRF1 tripped off. It reset.

At 6:12 AM, BRF1 & 10 tripped off. They reset.

At 7:15 AM, BRF18 tripped off. It reset.

A Pbar expert turned off the stacktail gain ramping. He reported that it didn’t seem to make a significant impact.

Operations reported at 7:58 AM that the Recycler had stashed five times during the midnight shift.

At 8:26 AM, BRF18 tripped off twice in four minutes for no apparent reason. It reset.

At 9:18 AM, BRF1 tripped off. It reset.

At 9:58 AM, BRF9 tripped off. It reset.

Operations terminated store 5901 at 11:30 AM.

TeV experts began a proton only study store around 12:27 PM.

At 12:49 PM, a Booster vacuum pump (B:IPRF21) tripped off and caused BRF9 and 10 to trip off also. Everything reset.

At 1:24 PM, BRF9 tripped off. It reset.

At 2:15 PM, KRF7 tripped off. It reset.

At 2:19 PM, BRF1 & 15 tripped off. They reset.

At 2:21 PM, Operations reported problems with the MIRF system, which were related to MIRF2. Experts investigated.

At 2:31 PM, BRF13 tripped off. It reset.

Operations put the TeV into shot setup at 2:42 PM.

Pbar experts began another round of Debuncher gain ramp studies at 2:45 PM.

At 3:46 PM, BRF9 tripped off. It reset.

Operations reported at 4:03 PM that the Recycler had stashed three times during the day shift.

At 4:25 PM, BRF1 & 13 tripped off on a power supply over voltage indication. Operators reset both stations, but there was so much sparking that they turned the stations off and contacted experts.

At 4:57 PM, DRF1-3 began having problems. Operators contacted an expert.

Operations established store 5903 at 5:11 PM with an initial luminosity of 254.68E30.

At 5:21 PM, a Pbar RF expert reported that DRF1-3 had failed. Further investigations would continue on Wednesday.

At 10:30 PM, KRF3 tripped off. It reset.

Operations reported at midnight that the Recycler had stashed five times during the evening shift.

Wednesday February 13

The midnight shift began with Operations monitoring store 5903 (97.95E30) and the stash (177.0E10), with Pbar stacking (21.1E10), and with NuMI and BNB taking beam.

At 1:08 AM, the Tevatron Electron Lens tripped off on a vacuum interlock. It reset.

At 1:46 AM, BRF9 tripped off. It reset.

At 1:57 AM, KRF3 tripped off. It reset.

At 2:37 AM, KRF7 tripped off. It reset.

At 4:01 AM, BRF18 tripped off for the first of two times in about one hour. It reset.

Operations reported at 7:55 AM that the Recycler had stashed five times during the midnight shift.

The Plans for Wednesday

The plans for today are to terminate store 5903 around 10:15 AM to allow CDF an access to repair necessary equipment. D0 will also make an access. Cryo system technicians will perform maintenance on six or seven TeV wet engines during this downtime. After all this has been completed, the plan is to resume normal stacking, stashing, and storing. The New MTest user (T953) begins taking beam today.

Accelerator Update Archive

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