Accelerator Update for September 15, 2008 - September 17, 2008

Monday Sept 15

The day shift began with Operations monitoring the Tevatron (TeV) store 6419 (114.79E30) and the Recycler (RR) stash (11.6E10), with the Antiproton Source (Pbar) stacking (131.1E10), with the Linac, Booster, or the Main Injector (MI) operating normally, with the MiniBooNE, NuMI, and the Meson MTest experiments taking beam, and with the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) and DZero (D0) using the colliding beams.

A water expert reported at 9:48 AM that he restarted the MI-20 LCW pump.

At 10:20 AM, Operations reported that the temperature was rising in the abort kicker room. An air conditioner expert investigated and found a broken fan belt.

At 12:03 PM, Operations reported that operators were making up water for the Pbar 95 LCW system. A lot more water was going into the system than was expected. Operators began searching service buildings for a leak.

Operators reported at 12:14 PM that there was no sign of a leak in the service buildings.

Operations reported at 12:27 PM that a Pbar Debuncher humidity detector started showing a steady rise.

At 12:34 PM, Operations reported that the Pbar expansion tank could not keep up with the leak. An expert cut back on the pumps to keep them from tripping off.

Operations prepared Pbar for an access at 12:39 PM.

At 12:51 PM, experts reported finding a leaking hose on a quadrupole magnet (DCQ5). They also found a leak on another magnet hose (A4S12).

At 1:51 PM, LRF3 tripped off. Linac experts brought it back online.

Pbar came out of access at 2:08 PM.

Pbar resumed stacking at 2:26 PM.

At 2:44 PM, LRF1 tripped off. Linac experts reported that they were tuning the station when it tripped. They brought it back online.

Operations reported at 3:57 PM that the Recycler had stashed antiprotons three times during the day shift.

Operations disabled the MTest beam at 6:56 PM.

At 9:08 PM, LRF5 tripped off. It reset.

Operations terminated store 6419 at 9:14 PM.

Operations put the TeV through a dry squeeze at 10:04 PM.

Operations put the TeV into shot setup at 10:46 PM.

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

Tuesday Sept 16

The midnight shift began with the TeV in shot setup, with Operations monitoring the stash (11.6E10), with the Pbar stacking (131.1E10), and with the MiniBooNE and NuMI experiments taking beam.

Operations established store 6421 at 12:15 AM with an initial luminosity of 269.4E30.

Operations established beam to MTest at 4:11 AM.

At 4:24 AM, the P1 transfer line beam permit tripped off due to the output current of a quadrupole power supply (I:Q701PI) going too high. Everything reset.

At 4:31 AM, LRF5 tripped off. It reset.

At 4:32 AM, Operations reported a power glitch. The stack was lost. Operators investigated and found an Accumulator power supply (A:IB) with a ground fault indication. The supply would not reset. Operations called in a power supply expert.

Operations put Pbar into standby and loaded an energy conservation time line into the Time Line Generator at 4:43 AM.

A power supply expert reported at 7:02 AM that A:IB was back online. He found and repaired a bad cable.

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

At 2:16 PM, Operations reported receiving a MI watchdog alarm for the first of eight times in about 90 minutes. It reset each time.

A MI expert began a slipstacking study at 2:17 PM. The study lasted about 90 minutes.

At 2:52 PM, MIRF16 tripped off for the first of two times in about an hour. It reset.

At 3:01 PM, Operations reported that the Pelletron VME was not responding. Rebooting did not help. Operations contacted an expert who helped get the Electron Cooling going again.

Operations reported at 4:05 PM that the Recycler had stashed four times during the day shift.

At 4:26 PM, two vacuum valves (VLNLAM and VLNDMP) closed in the 400MeV area. Operators checked the vacuum, which was okay, and then reopened the valves.

At 5:24 PM, the Pbar beam permit tripped off when a power supply (VT100) went outside of its current limits. The autotune program was the cause. Operators restored a good file to the program and Pbar resumed stacking.

Operations disabled the MTest beam at 6:03 PM.

At 6:09 PM, a MI kicker tripped off on a Pre-Fire Fault. It reset.

Operations terminated store 6421 at 7:11 PM.

A TeV expert began his investigation at 7:12 PM of TeV power supply knife-switch temperatures. It took him about 45 minutes to get to TeV sector D2. This will be an ongoing investigation at the end of stores.

At 7:36 PM, LRF2 tripped off. It reset.

Operations put the TeV into shot setup at 8:16 PM.

At 9:31 PM, the TeV suffered a quench at sector F4. Operators investigated and called in a TeV expert.

At 10 PM, LRF5 tripped off. It reset.

At 11:55 PM, LRF5 tripped off. It reset.

A TeV expert reported at 11:58 PM that the TeV sector F48 collimators had caused the quench due to a readback problem. The expert was looking at a card in the CAMAC crate.

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

Wednesday Sept 17

The midnight shift began with the TeV recovering from a quench and investigating the F48 collimators, with Operations monitoring the stash (97.9E10), with Pbar stacking (16.5E10), and with the MiniBooNE and NuMI experiments taking beam.

Operations began the TeV sector F4 cryo system cooldown at 12:02 AM.

At 12:33 AM, LRF5 tripped off. It reset.

Operations reported at 12:55 AM that the F4 cryo system was ready to go.

At 1:14 AM, LRF5 tripped off. It reset.

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

TeV experts began a separator conditioning study at 2:54 AM.

At 3:02 AM, the Booster notcher tripped off. It reset.

TeV experts began an electron cloud study at 3:36 AM.

Operations established beam to MTest at 4:37 AM.

At 5:25 AM, MIRF16 tripped off with a modulator problem. Operators bypassed the station.

The TeV studies ended at 7:08 AM.

At 7:14 AM, Operations reported that the MIRF system tripped off on a watchdog trip; it would not stay reset. RF experts investigated and managed to bring everything back on about 10 minutes later.

Operations put the TeV through a dry squeeze at 7:37 AM.

Operations put the TeV into shot setup at 7:45 AM.

At 7:55 AM, LRF5 tripped off. It reset.

Operations reported at 7:59 AM that the Recycler had stashed three times during the midnight shift.

The Plans for Wednesday

The Run Coordinator has planned a three-hour shutdown for the Proton Source later this morning, around 11 AM, to allow Linac experts to replace the power amplifier for LRF5 and for MTA - MuCool work. He will allow other jobs in downstream areas that can be completed before Linac comes back on.

Accelerator Update Archive

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