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

Friday Nov 14

The day shift began with the Tevatron (TeV) recovering from a quench, with Operations monitoring the Recycler stash (228.2E10), with the Antiproton Source stacking (21.0E10), with the Linac, Booster, and Main Injector (MI) operating normally, with the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) experiment in access, with the D-Zero (D0) experiment waiting for the next store, and with the NuMI, MiniBooNE, and Meson MTest experiments taking beam.

Cryo system technicians reported at 9:13 AM that they were beginning to make a small adjustment to the TeV sector C1 wet engine.

Operations reported at 10:10 AM that the TeV RF was turned off for sector F0 pond water strainer cleaning.

Operations put the TeV through a dry squeeze around 10:20 AM.

At 10:26 AM, the NuMI horn tripped off. It reset.

A TeV expert began a proton study at 11:30 AM.

At 12:19 PM, Operations reported a problem with the Booster chopper.

A Linac expert reported at 12:40 PM that he ran a 30-minute LRF1 pre-pulse tune study.

Operations prepared Linac for an access at 1:23 PM to inspect the Booster chopper.

Operations prepared the Pelletron for a 45-minute access at 1:47 PM.

A Booster expert reported at 2:01 PM that he had reterminated a high voltage cable for the Booster chopper.

Linac came out of access. Operations established beam to Pbar at 2:27 PM.

At 2:46 PM, Linac experts reported that they were working on LRF4.

Pbar Experts began a study at 3:11 PM.

At 3:53 PM, cryo system experts at CHL reported that their large helium compressor was failing. They started up a backup compressor.

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

At 4:26 PM, Operations reported that a TeV kicker (C:PAK5) had prefired. An expert investigated and reported that everything looked okay, but recommended a couple of wet squeezes to test the kicker.

Operations put the TeV into shot setup at 6:09 PM.

Operations established store 6563 at 7:51 PM with an initial luminosity of 278.72E30.

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

Saturday Nov 15

The midnight shift began with Operations monitoring the TeV store 6563 (138.87E30) and the stash (138.4E10), with the Pbar stacking (21.5E10), and with NuMI and MiniBooNE taking beam.

At 2:53 AM, the NuMI horn tripped off on a ground fault. The horn would reset, but would immediately trip back off. Operations contacted experts.

Operations reported at 3:47 AM that, per instructions, they tried unsuccessfully to “de-flake” the horn. Operations called in experts.

Operations established beam to MTest at 6:06 AM.

At 6:41 AM, LRF2 tripped off. It reset.

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

Operations terminated store 6563 at 12:09 PM.

Operations put the TeV into shot setup at 12:21 PM.

At 12:35 PM, Operations reported problems with the MI BLMs. Later, operators discovered a VME crate at MI-10 that had no power.

Operations reported at 1:33 PM that the MI-10 VME crate was off due to a tripped breaker. It was reset.

Operations established store 6564 at 2:58 PM with an initial luminosity of 315.85E30.

NuMI experts reported at 5:14 PM that they did not know what was causing the horn problem. NuMI will run in the horn-off mode until Monday, 11/17/08.

Operations disabled beam to MTest at 6:06 PM.

Operations reported at 8:03 PM that the Recycler had stashed eight times during the last 12 hours.

Sunday Nov 16

The midnight shift began with Operations monitoring store 6564 and the stash, with Pbar stacking, and with NuMI and MiniBooNE taking beam.

Operations terminated store 6564 at 6:31 AM.

Operations put the TeV into shot setup at 6:40 AM.

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

Operations established store 6565 at 8:18 AM with an initial luminosity of 315.18E30.

Operations disabled beam to MTest at 6:03 PM.

Operations reported at 8:02 PM that the Recycler had stashed 11 times during the last 12 hours.

At 8:12 PM, the Pelletron tripped off. It reset.

Monday Nov 17

The midnight shift began with Operations monitoring store 6565 and the stash, with Pbar stacking, and with NuMI and MiniBooNE taking beam.

Operations terminated store 6565 at 12:36 AM.

Operations put the TeV into shot setup at 12:49 AM.

At 12:58 AM, the Booster West Anode Power Supply tripped off. It reset, but then BRF9 tripped off. BRF9 reset, but then BRF13 tripped off and would not reset. Operators investigated and smelled smoke. Operations contacted an Booster expert.

Operations put Pbar into standby at 1:25 AM.

Operations bypassed BRF13 and brought BRF19 online at 1:33 AM. Pbar resumed stacking.

Operations established store 6566 at 2:53 AM with an initial luminosity of 315.2E30.

At 6:32 AM, the Linac buncher tripped off. It reset.

At 7:22 AM, a Linac expert reported that LRF5 was sparking. She turned off the station for repairs. Operations loaded an energy conservation timeline into the Time Line Generator.

A RF expert began investigating the BRF13 problems at 7:34 AM.

Operations reported at 8:06 AM that the Recycler had stashed 10 times during the last 12 hours.

The Plans for Monday

The plans for today are to bring LRF5 back online and then resume normal stacking, stashing, and storing.

Accelerator Update Archive

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