Beam operation and challenges

6 DECEMBER, 2022 | By Ramon Folch

2022 was another exciting year for the beam operation of the experimental areas, with increasing challenges to satisfy our Users’ expectations, week after week. One key factor of successful operation is the fast and professional response to the unpredictable technical failures of the beamline equipment during the run. To minimize the beam downtime and recover from a beam performance degradation, our beamline physicists are at the first line to provide expertise and support to the Users.

Even a minor incident without immediate impact on the beam operation is recorded in the AFT (Accelerator Fault Tracking) system for two main reasons: 1) to schedule an intervention to recover as quick nominal operation conditions, 2) for the sake of the reliability statistics of the beam line equipment, in view of future technical consolidation programs, especially NA-CONS.

The communication chain is essential here. As soon as superintendent, technical teams and the engineer in charge are made aware of the incident, they investigate the likely origin of the failure and prepare for the repair or replacement of that faulty element. The intervention is scheduled for the next possible access to the zone, considering the urgency and the radioprotection constrains. This year we had many of such cases, amongst which a water leak of the TCSC (in TDC2), the vacuum leak of the TBIU (in TCC2), and frequent failing electrovalves readout of the vacuum pumping groups of the beamlines.

The BE-EA expert teams – in smart collaboration with other groups – have shown once more how they can overcome the challenges thanks to their excellent responsive and supportive spirit towards the same common goal: provide the best possible conditions for happy users and promising physics results in our experimental areas!