Accelerator Update for October 10, 2008 - October 13, 2008

Friday Oct 10

The day shift began with the shutdown ending and the startup beginning.

Operators reported at 8:21 AM that they had rebooted the Switchyard (SY) vacuum Front End (FE).

An Antiproton Source (Pbar) expert reported at 8:27 AM that they had cleaned the Pbar LCW filters at CUB.

Operators reported at 8:44 AM that the Main Injector (MI) MI-3 FE crates had been restored.

Operations established a MI ramp at 9:47 AM.

Operators reported at 10:21 AM that they had successfully rebooted all the TeV nodes.

FESS personnel reported at 10:43 AM that they had begun cleaning the MI RF pond water strainers.

At 12:09 PM, a Recycler expert reported that the Pelletron had a problem, which was being investigated.

Operations reported at 12:21 PM that the Tevatron (TeV) had been searched and secured.

Operations reported at 3:55 PM that MiniBooNE had been turned on and had a beam permit.

Operations reported at 4:57 PM that Pbar had been turned on and put in standby mode.

Operations reported at 5:29 PM that NuMI had been turned on.

At 7 PM, Recycler experts reported that there would be no Electron Cooling for the next shot setup.

Operators reported at 8:01 PM that they had searched and secured the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) collision hall.

Operations established beam to the MI dump at 8:25 PM.

Operations established beam to MiniBooNE at 8:52 PM.

At 8:56 PM, a Linac Klystron RF station (KRF1) tripped off. It reset.

Operators reported at 9:11 PM that they had searched and secured the D-Zero (D0) collision hall.

Operations put the TeV through its first dry squeeze at 10:33 PM.

At 10:51 PM, Operations tried to start stacking, but the Lithium Lens tripped off. Operations contacted experts.

At 11:42 PM, Operations tried to send beam to NuMI, but a power supply (E:V118) tripped off. Operations contacted a power supply expert.

Saturday Oct 11

The midnight shift began with the accelerator complex turn on in progress, with the TeV in a dry squeeze, and with Recycler experts conducting studies.

At 12:30 AM, Pbar experts accessed the vault to investigate a possible problem with the Lithium Lens.

A TeV expert began a study period at 1:43 AM.

Operations put the TeV through a dry squeeze starting at 2:30 AM.

Operations successfully injected beam into the TeV at 3:12 AM.

At 4:42 AM, the Booster tripped off when its beam valves closed. This caused power supplies in Booster and Linac to trip off. Everything reset.

At 5:40 AM, KRF6 tripped off. It reset.

Operations put the TeV through a wet squeeze at 5:45 AM.

A Pbar expert reported that he had made adjustments to the target position at 5:58 AM.

At 6:08 AM, a Booster vacuum pump (IPRF17) tripped off and caused BRF 7 & 8 to also trip off. Everything reset.

At 6:27 AM, MIRF5 tripped off. It reset.

At 7:12 AM, MIRF14 tripped off. It reset.

Power supply experts reported at 7:42 AM that they had repaired the NuMI power supply E:V118.

Operations reported at 7:50 AM that they were tuning beam to Pbar and NuMI.

Operations terminated the TeV study beam at 8:37 AM so that CDF could have a 20-minute quiet time.

At 8:59 AM, MIRF5 tripped off for the first of three times in 35 minutes.

At 9:10 AM, KRF6 tripped off. It reset.

At 9:20 AM, Operations reported that they had attempted to stash antiprotons, but an Accumulator RF station (ARF4) would not ramp. An expert investigated.

Operations put the TeV through a dry squeeze at 9:21 AM.

At 11:29 AM, MIRF7 tripped off. It reset.

A Pbar expert reported at 11:30 AM that ARF4 was up and running. He had replaced a bad CAMAC FE VME.

Operations reported at 12:39 PM that they had injected antiprotons into the Recycler.

At 12:45 PM, Operations reported that a Pbar Debuncher kicker (D:IKIK) was missing a phase. Operations contacted an expert.

At 2:39 PM, KRF1 tripped off. It reset.

At 4:23 PM, KRF5 tripped off. It reset.

At 7:09 PM, Operations reported that the 400 MeV area beam permit had tripped off three times.

At 7:41 PM, LRF5 tripped off. It reset.

Operations put the TeV through a dry squeeze at 8:05 PM.

At 8:16 PM, Operations reported that the H- Source had a regulation problem. Operators changed out its control module.

At 7:09 PM, Operations reported that the 400 MeV area beam permit had tripped off for the first of seven times one hour. It reset. Operators tuned the beamline and called in an expert.

Operations put the TeV through a dry squeeze at 9:38 PM.

Operations put Pbar into stacking mode at 11:53 PM.

Sunday Oct 12

The midnight shift began with a Proton Source expert working on beam positions, with beam studies in progress, and with NuMI and MiniBooNE taking beam.

Operations reported at 12:31 AM that Pbar began stacking. A power supply expert reported that he had replaced a thyratron tube.

At 1:04 AM, Operations reported more problems with the H- Source. Operators swapped modules around.

At 6:30 AM, LRF5 tripped off. It reset.

At 7 AM, BRF5 tripped off. It reset.

At 8:01 AM, KRF5 tripped off. It reset.

Operations reported at 10:16 AM that they had stashed antiprotons into the Recycler.

Operations injected protons into the TeV at 12:04 PM for collimator studies.

At 12:20 PM, a Recycler expert reported that the Pelletron needed an access for repairs.

At 1:21 PM, the Linac Klystron Vernier tripped off on a water flow fault for the first of two times in about 90 minutes. It reset.

Operations put the TeV into shot setup at 4:06 PM.

Operations established store 6486 at 5:42 PM with an initial luminosity of 96.29E30.

At 7:04 PM, BRF7 tripped off. It reset.

Operations reported at 8:13 PM that the Recycler had stashed once during the last 12 hours.

At 9:19 PM, LRF4 tripped off. It reset.

At 11:04 PM, a Booster kicker (B:MKS6) tripped off and would not reset. Operations contacted an expert who helped operators adjust the kicker so it would reset.

Pelletron experts reported at 11:31 PM that they had completed their repairs, only the cooling fluid had to be refilled.

Monday Oct 13

The day shift began with the Operations monitoring store 6486, and with NuMI and MiniBooNE taking beam.

At 1:51 AM, a Booster kicker (B:MKS5) tripped off and would not reset. Operations contacted an expert who suggested that they change out the line conditioner.

At 3:07 AM, operators reported that they had replaced the line conditioner for Booster kicker MKS5. They also brought MKS6 back on line.

Operations terminated store 6486 at 4:19 AM.

Operations put the TeV into shot setup at 4:32 AM.

At 5:38 AM. Operations reported that the Linac Klystron Vernier tripped off for the first of five times in a little over 2 hours. It reset.

Operations established store 6487 at 5:59 AM with an initial luminosity of 80.26E30.

Pelletron experts reported at 6:53 AM that they had completed filling the cooling system.

Operations reported at 8:02 AM that the Recycler had stashed once during the last 12 hours.

The Plans for Monday

The plans for today are to tune all machines and then to stack, stash, and store.

Accelerator Update Archive

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