Accelerator Update for March 14, 2008 - March 17, 2008

Friday March 14

The day shift began with Operations monitoring the Tevatron (TeV) store 5984 (104.58E30) and the Recycler stash (147.0E10), with the Antiproton Source stacking (29.5E10), with the Main Injector (MI), Linac, and Booster being prepared for access, with the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) and DZero (D0) using the colliding beams, and with NuMI and the SciBooNE / MiniBooNE (BNB) experiments off due to accesses.

An expert began a Pbar study at 8:29 AM.

At 8:31 AM, a Linac Klystron RF station (KRF3) tripped off. It reset.

A controls expert rebooted the MI-10 BLM front-end (FE) at 8:33 AM.

At 8:36 AM, LRF2 tripped off. It reset.

Linac experts began work on LRF5 at 8:44 AM.

At 9:39 AM, the I- Source tripped off. Operators turned it back on locally.

An Instrumentation expert, who was conducting the Pbar core cooling measurements, also changed out the E17 Schottky so that Operations could see the tunes of a TeV store from the beginning.

Operations prepared the NuMI pre-target area for an access at 9:51 AM.

A Linac expert reported that LRF5 was up and running around 10:49 AM.

At 10:50 AM, a CUB expert reported that there was a problem with the “process chilled water” tank. He is going to lower its level to replace a sensor.

Booster came out of access at 11:13 AM.

NuMI came out of access at 11:14 AM.

At 11:24 AM, Operations reported that there had been a couple of trips of the I- Source this morning. The only indication for the trips is a “REF Source” off. Experts are continuing to investigate.

Operations established beam to BNB, Pbar, and NuMI at 12:01 PM.

At 12:05 PM, MIRF12 tripped off. It reset.

At 12:10 PM, Operations reported that the Pbar A and B sweeping magnets had a trip status that wouldn’t reset. An expert investigated.

At 12:23 PM, the I- Source tripped off. It reset.

At 1:30 PM, Operations reported that the MI BLM FE reboot this morning had disabled the abort functionality. A controls expert investigated.

A Pbar expert reported at 1:52 PM that the B sweeping magnet was on and the A sweeping magnet was off.

At 2:19 PM, BRF16 tripped off. It reset.

At 3:34 PM, KRF5 tripped off. It reset.

Experts reported at 3:38 PM that they were working on the MI-8 Autotune/BLM system.

Operations reported at 4:02 PM that the Recycler had stashed antiprotons twice during the day shift.

At 4:20 PM, LRF2 tripped off for the first of two times in two minutes. It reset.

At 4:49 PM, LRF4 tripped off. It reset.

At 5:16 PM, Operations reported that they were having problems with MI beam positions. Operations contacted an expert who discovered a quadrupole damper that was referenced to the wrong event.

At 9:11 PM, KRF6 sparked and tripped off. It reset.

At 10:02 PM, the Pelletron tripped off. It reset.

At 10:03 PM, the TeV sector F4 LCW pump #2 tripped off and caused the Tevatron Electron Lens (TEL1) to trip. The pump would not reset remotely. Operators turned the pump on locally.

Operations terminated store 5984 at 11:09 PM.

Operations put the TeV into shot setup at 11:40 PM.

Operations reported at 11:59 PM that the Recycler had stashed four times during the evening shift.

Saturday March 15

The midnight shift began with the TeV in shot setup, with Operations monitoring the stash (343.7E10), with Pbar stacking (29.3E10), and with NuMI and BNB taking beam.

At 2:19 AM, BRF16 tripped off. It reset.

Operations established store 5985 at 2:20 AM with an initial luminosity of 250.23E30.

At 5:29 AM, Operations reported that CUB column #1 tripped off due to high resistivity. The MI LCW system switched to internal recirculation. Operations contacted an expert.

At 5:56 AM, the I- Source tripped off. It reset.

At 6:53 AM, a Pbar computer (PBKICK PC) at AP-0 stopped responding. An operator power cycled the PC and it resumed normal operation.

Water experts reported at 7:55 AM that they had begun to regenerate CUB column #1.

Operations reported at 7:56 AM that the Recycler had stashed three times during the midnight shift.

At 8:13 AM, Operations reported that the Linac Klystron vernier tripped off on a transformer LCW flow fault. It reset.

A MI expert began a coalescing check at 2:43 PM. She was done about an hour later.

Operations reported at 7:59 PM that the Recycler had stashed eight times during the last 12 hours.

At 9:29 PM, KRF2 tripped off. It reset.

Operations terminated store 5985 at 9:34 PM.

At 9:39 PM, LRF4 tripped off. It reset.

Operations put the TeV into shot setup at 9:45 PM.

At 10:21 PM, BRF10 tripped off. It reset.

Operations established store 5986 at 11:29 PM with an initial luminosity of 285.05E30.

At 11:39 PM, BRF4 tripped off. It reset.

Sunday March 16

The midnight shift began with Operations monitoring store 5986 and the stash, with Pbar stacking, and with NuMI and BNB taking beam.

At 3:10 AM, the Klystron vernier tripped off for the first of two times in three minutes on a LCW flow indication. It reset.

At 4:54 AM, KRF3 tripped off. It reset.

At 6:06 AM, KRF4 tripped off. It reset.

Operations reported at 7:58 AM that the Recycler had stashed five times during the last 12 hours.

At 8:27 AM, the I- Source tripped off for the first of three times over nine hours. It reset.

At 10:43 AM, LRF4 tripped off. It reset.

At 10:59 AM, KRF2 tripped off. It reset.

At 11:45 AM, an expert informed Operations that there was a LCW detector alarm for the MI-65 pre-target area. Operations turned off the NuMI beam, to prepare for an access, and called experts.

Operations began preparing MI-65 for an access at 11:54 AM.

CUB experts reported at 12:05 PM that column #1 had reached a temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit and was turned off to cool down.

At 1:58 PM, KRF2 tripped off. It reset.

Operations reported at 3:08 PM that they had made an adjustment to the Booster beam at L13 that improved beam positions significantly. This allowed Operations to increase beam intensity to BNB.

A NuMI expert reported 3:21 PM that he found a NuMI sump that was overflowing. They replaced the sump’s float switch and came out of access.

Operations resumed sending beam to NuMI at 3:27 PM.

At 4:58 PM, LRF2 tripped off. It reset.

At 6:06 PM, the TeV suffered a quench at TeV sector B0 and A4.

Operations reported at 6:45 PM that the TeV sector B0 QPM pulled the beam abort, which was probably caused by C:B0Q6. Because of the quench, the B3 cold compressor tripped off and wouldn’t reset. CHL cryo system operators investigated and reported that the compressor would take about 2-4 hours to repair. They contacted experts.

Operations called in a TeV expert at 7:14 PM to install a transient recorder on B0Q6 and also called experts to check the power supply.

Operations reported at 8 PM that the Recycler had stashed eight times during the last 12 hours.

At 8:52 PM, the TeV sector A4 cold compressor tripped off. CHL experts requested Operations not to restart this compressor until their expert, who was called in to look at the B3 compressor, gets a chance to investigate.

At 10:27 PM, the Linac Klystron vernier tripped off on a LCW flow fault. It reset.

A CHL expert reported at 11:04 PM that they had completed their work on the B3 and A4 compressors.

At 11:13 PM, the Linac Klystron Debuncher tripped off. It would not reset. Operators contacted an expert who helped them get the Debuncher on by 11:58 PM.

Monday March 17

The midnight shift began with the TeV recovering from a quench, with Operations monitoring the stash, with Pbar stacking, and with NuMI and BNB taking beam.

At 12:10 AM, the power supply expert reported that they found a small LCW leak dripping onto a firing board. They stopped the leak, replaced the board, and repaired some corrosion damage.

Cryo system experts at CHL reported 1:31 AM that the TeV was ready to go.

At 1:37 AM, BRF12 tripped off. It reset.

At 2 AM, Operations reported that the Pbar lithium lens tripped off. It reset.

At 2:23 AM, KRF3 tripped off. It reset.

At 2:41 AM, BRF16 tripped off. It reset.

Operations put the TeV through a dry squeeze at 2:58 AM.

At 3:05 AM, the Linac Klystron vernier tripped off. It reset.

At 3:08 AM, a MI power supply (M:V105) tripped off on a low current indication. It reset.

Operations put the TeV through a wet squeeze at 3:49 AM.

Operations put the TeV into shot setup at 4:29 AM.

Operations established store 5989 at 6:01 AM with an initial luminosity of 315.55E30. This store set a NEW RECORD LUMINOSITY!

At 6:06 AM, LRF3 tripped off. It reset.

Operations reported at 7:59 PM that the Recycler had stashed three times during the last 12 hours.

The Plans for Monday

The plans for today are to stack, stash, and store. The Run Coordinator will allow MI and Recycler experts to conduct studies. The Run Coordinator reported that this last week set a record for integrated luminosity with ~46.421 Pb^-1 (inverse picobarns).

Accelerator Update Archive

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