This is a time when we focus on maintenance of the synchrotron and CESR, upgrading systems and equipment, and preparing for CHESS-U. Brief summaries of just a few of the Summer Down projects are below:
This summer, we are upgrading the safety system at G-line. The upgrade will include PLC (touch screen) displays at all of the G-line hutches and magnetic door locks on the hutches in place of keys. Over 800 wiring connections have been made so far as part of this upgrade, and several hundred feet of old cables have been removed from wire trays.
Lots of development and commissioning work has been ongoing with our new cryogenically cooled monochromators that we will be using in CHESS-U. After a week-long visit from a technical rep from Research Instruments, CHESS staff has been busy connecting and testing motors and pumping down, baking out, and cooling down these new systems.
In preparation for CHESS-U, a new floor is being constructed in the L0 area of Wilson Lab. This is the area where the CLEO detector used to sit — CLEO was removed last summer and now there is a new floor covering the pit where the detector used to sit. Next year, our new CHESS-U hutches will be on this floor. Contractors and our rigging crew carefully brought six 46-foot long steel beams into the building, as well as about 120,000 pounds of concrete, to construct the floor.
Later this summer, we will be assembling and installing hutch 1A3, an extension of the F2 hutch. The hutch is currently being built by Advance Design Consulting Inc. in Lansing, NY. Staff in Wilson Lab are working on assembling the beamstops and vacuum chambers and pipes that will be connected to this extension hutch.
In addition to all of the work on the floor, there’s plenty of planning and development work for CHESS-U happening behind computer screens: designing beamline components, floor layouts, EPICS development, and planning equipment purchases, to name a few.
Not only is there a lot of work happening inside the lab, but there’s been improvements outside of the building as well: The parking lot at the 5th floor entrance to the building has been completely redone and includes an improved crosswalk for pedestrians and a speed hump to slow down passing traffic. Additionally, more lights have been installed in our lower parking lot.