Thu Apr 14 14:03:17 2011:  What did we see after the fin diffusion bonding of Ta fins for FEBIAD-HP (w.o#38481-7) ? :

1.  A problem occurred during the FEBIAD HP Ta fin diffusion bonding and was discovered after the evaporator chamber was opened.  The washer was "wielded" on to the left leg of the target (see attachment #1: washer on target leg). 

2. A look inside the evaporator chamber shows that more coating is found on the evaporator lid and the copper base plate (See attachment#2: Inside evap chamber). This coating was previously found when a HP FEBIAD target underwent for the fin diffusion bonding (See Message ID#4: Diffusion bonding of Ta Fins for FEBIAD-HP (w.o#38481-8)).  The evaporator chamber is cleaned with a wiper sheet and EtOH each time before a target is put in;  however the coating is not easily removed and there are always some residual remain. 

3.  The bolt and the washer are deformed.  The top part of the bolt is expended and can no longer fit into the threaded washer  (See attachment#3: Deformed bolt_washer). 

4.  The TIS group was called in to investigate the problem.  It was believed that the problem might have started from the bolts and the washers.  The un-threaded shank bolts and the threaded washers are made for remote handling purposes, so they do not fall apart everywhere in the hotcell.  However, if these bolts and the washers are used for the evaporator, which are bolted on and tighten against the gravity onto the conductors, this may create a gap if the threaded washer is tilted slightly.  (See attachment#4: Gap).  As a result, this causes an uneven pressure contact of the bolt/washer and the target leg.  

Solutions:

Use fully threaded bolts (same material as before - a mild steel) and remove the threads from the washers (See attachment#5: No Gap).

--> To be tested...

 Fri Apr 15 11:59:31 2011: 

The new bolts/washer were cleaned only with simple green and ultrasonic for 5 min.  The bolts and washer should not be cleaned for too long; some remaining grease actually helps prevent them from getting rusty.  The evaporator is wiped with EtOH and  the target is inside.  The bolts and washers are tighten and they are not showing at space like before (See attachment#6: new bolt_washer) .  The evaporator is being pumped down and the target heater will be raised to 820A; we will have to wait until the fin diffusion bonding is complete and the evaporator chamber is vented. 

 Mon Apr 18 12:30:35 2011: 

After a fin diffusion bonding of a HP FEBIAD target, there is no sign of coating in the evaporator.  The bolts/washer and the target look normal. 

--> The problem is solved.

Thursday, August 04, 2011, 17:44:  All the UCx material from target oven 38634-3 was recovered and repacked in this new oven.  Total mass recovered = 45.911g and packed in 10.7cm length.  Target is currently being pumped down. 

Thursday, August 04, 2011, 20:23:  Current vac 5.6e-6 Torr.  Stepping up TGHT to 104A, vac increasing slowly.  Being auto heating @ 2A/min to 200A. 

Thursday, August 04, 2011, 21:32 THGT @ 200A,( see attachment1: 200A.jpg)

Friday, August 05, 2011, 09:04:  TGHT reached to 520A, and was cool down last night by ISAC Ops.  (See attachment2: re-conditioning).  Target looks good! 

John Wong wrote:

John Wong wrote: Wednesday, June 06, 2012, 16:55 The UO2/C green was prepared on June 04, 2012.  UO2 powder used = 50.26g C-grv used = 10.14g.  Dry UO2/C green mass = 61.71g. The green was rolled and wrapped in a piece of graphite sheet. The target boat was wrapped with 3 Ta-heat shield and installed in the Evap#1.  The chamber is currently being pumped down.    Monday, June 11, 2012, 10:31 Last week during the pump down of the chamber (vacuum got down to low 10e-5 Torr), the cooling was open in preparation of turning on the target heater.  A vacuum excursion was triggered (pressure went up to 300mTorr), and the system was tripped off.  It was suspected that there was some leaks.  A leak test was performed - all the water connecters & joints are fine.  The seal for the chamber lid was found leaky (5e-8 atm cc/sec).  The seal was replaced and the vacuum was improved but no perfect. The chamber has been pumped down over the weekend, pressure currently at 2.3e-6 Torr.  Coincidentally, the TGHT power supply is broken.  The initial action was to turn on the power supply at 0A when the chamber vacuum had gone down to 10-6 Torr.  But the power supply did not regular and shot up to 1000A and caused a vacuum excursion.  Ray Dube will replaced it.

 Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 11:37

Ray Dube repaired the TGHT power supply.  It is now operational.

John Wong wrote:

John Wong wrote: Wednesday, June 06, 2012, 16:55 The UO2/C green was prepared on June 04, 2012.  UO2 powder used = 50.26g C-grv used = 10.14g.  Dry UO2/C green mass = 61.71g. The green was rolled and wrapped in a piece of graphite sheet. The target boat was wrapped with 3 Ta-heat shield and installed in the Evap#1.  The chamber is currently being pumped down.  Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 11:42 Currently, IEVAPIG1= 1.83e-6 Torr, IEVAP:CG2= 48 mTorr. Backing line pressure is slightly high.  Will get Edi to look into this.  Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 14:38 The backing pump oil was changed (ISAC WP#2012-06-12-1).  IEVAP:CG2 is currently reading 27mTorr and IEVAPIG1 at 1.66e-6 Torr.  Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 16:06 TGHT was tabbed up to 50A and stayed for 1.5 hrs.  Not much change in the pressure, currently at 1.8e-6 Torr, BP @ 25mTorr.   Keep stepping up TGHT current...  Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 16:37 TGHT at 65A.  Pressure is starting to rise.  Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 16:46 Pressure at  6.8e-6 Torr and going up slowly.  Initiated TGHT auto-ramping: Max current = 525A,  rate @ 0.1A/min (see attachment #1)  Wednesday, June 13, 2012, 13:22 TGHT has almost reached to 80A.  Pressure is limiting at 4.5e-6 Torr. (see attachment#2) Thursday, June 14, 2012, 17:11 TGHT has reached to 95.40A, local @ 92A & 0.48V.  Pressure is still limiting at 4e-6 Torr.  (see attachment #3) The TGHT current can not go up above 232A because it's voltage limiting at 1.953V (see attachment#4).  The carbon thermal-reduction process stops and the vacuum is going down to low 10e-6 Torr.  The voltage can not be increased on EPICS; it has to be adjusted locally.   Auto-ramping aborted.   The TGHT current setpoint was lowered down to 228A. Sunday, June 17, 2012, 12:03   Asked ISAC Ops (Ed Parton) to help me increase the voltage locally.  The voltage nob was turned 1/4 clockwise, and the current was tapped up from 228 to 231A, and it was responding.  The voltage nob was further turned to 3/4 clockwise.  Initiated auto-ramping.  Currently, TGHT setpoint at 234.90A, local 231A/1.95V.   Vacuum is responding and it's slowly going up (currently at 2.8e-6 Torr) - The carbon thermal reduction process continues...  Monday, June 18, 2012, 00:20   TGHT is going up slowly, currently at  285A.  The pressure is limiting as the carbonization process is under way (see attachment 5).   Sunday, June 24, 2012, 22:51     The Evaporator IOC has lost communication (see attachment #6).  The TGHT auto ramping was not responding to the vacuum limit and kept ramping up, so the program had to be aborted.   On the live camera,  it showed that TGHT stopped at 311A/3.02V and the pressure was at 5.05e-5 Torr.   An email has sent to Controls and hopefully things get resolved on Monday.

 Monday, June 25, 2012, 15:57

The Control Support group investigated the problem and found out that the fiber converters on both ends failed.  They have been replaced with brand new switches with fiber connections.

 The Evap EPICS is back online. 

John Wong wrote:

Thursday, August 22, 2013, 17:31 1st attempt: UO2/C green was prepared on Aug 14, 2013 (wed).  The slurry was cast on a piece of glass coated with WD40. The cast was let dry until Aug 26 (Mon) - couldn't peel off from the glass.  2nd attempt: So, scrapped off cast, mixed with 30ml H20 in the WC jar, re-milled for 3 hrs, and cast/let dry over night  - SAME SHIT! couldn't peel off!  Don't understand why?! 3rd attempt: scrapped off, added the additional compositions: 1g PEG400,1g Glycerol, 10g 7% PVA, 2ml n-butanol, 2ml methonal, 20ml DI H2O. Re-milled for 3 hours, cast and let dry!  Wahlaa... it works! (See attachment#1: pretty uranium pancake!) However... During this process, some lost of uranium was resulted.  The slurry was more viscous than normal.  Some material was stuck to the WC jar wall and the balls. Initial UO2 powder used = 50.14g (Inventory R-00835A UO2 + bottle = 795.56 before use) Graphite powder used = 10g. 1st attempt dried UO2/C + organic  mass = 55.75g 2nd attempt = didn't measure 3rd attempt + additional org mass = 44.5g  (expecting to loss more uranium from the scraping/sticking to jar/balls) The green was rolled up and wrapped in a piece of graphite sheet. The Ta-target boat was wrapped with 3-Ta layers of heat shield and installed in Evap1 on Aug 22, 2013. Chamber is currently being pumped down. IG1 @ 2.4e-4 Torr. Target will be ramped up to 520A at the rate of 0.1A/min Vacuum limit stop at 5.0e-5 Torr, backing off at 6.0e-5 Torr

 Friday, August 23, 2013, 15:08

The chamber wasn't pumping down well; there was a problem with the seal on the lid.

Rick M. replaced it. 

The chamber is currently being pumped down;  it seems OK!

The right connector for the TGHT had rotated. It has now been repositioned and both connectors have been tightened to reduce the chance for further rotation.

Laura Lambert wrote:

Laura Lambert wrote:  Wednesday, July 12, 2017, 17:06 Target container was previously coated with TaC and sintered. Container is wrapped with 3 layers of Ta-heat shield, including the center block The target consists of 400 discs of UCx with 13.60cm in length [8 packs of 5 + 360 single discs/ 2.6cm on left side, 2.8cm on right side wrt ionizer into page]. Discs in target are arranged as follows: 1pack / 60singles / 1pack / 60singles / 1pack / 60singles / 2packs / 60singles / 1pack / 60singles / 1pack / 60singles / 1pack A regular TaC coated endcap is inserted left, wrt the ionizer tube pointing down. The right side is open with a TaC coated spring to help hold materials in. The chamber is currently pumping down. TGHT will be ramped up to 450A at 0.1A/min [same current used to reach 1900C in evap2 when sintering TaC coating - elog373 evap2] Parameter setup: 5.0e-5 good vac, 6.0e-5 bad vac. Thursday, July 13, 2017, 12:49 Tapped up manually to 35A. Waited ~2hrs, vacuum stable: IG1 = 2.64e-6 Torr Initiating auto-ramp.    Thursday, July 13, 2017, 14:48 Update: auto-ramp not started. With recent updates to evap1 epics, not everything was uploaded correctly. TGHT auto-ramp system not working: parameter boxes have white outline indicating locked. No parameters can be inputed and therefore unable to start auto-ramp.  Friday, July 14, 2017, 15:56 Problems still not fixed. Have tapped up manually to 50A, 0.59V Vacuum stable; IG1 = 5.26e-6 Torr. Will remain at setpoints over weekend before continuing to ramp up manually...  Monday, July 17, 2017, 15:10 New problems: Paddle wheels for evap2 need replacing asap [see elog evap2 i.d.378] In order to replace, supply/ return need to be turned off and a full purge; therefore, evap1 must be off otherwise it will trip off from no water. Evap2 needs to be fixed asap and cannot wait for this process to be complete. Evap1 had been tapped up manually to 60A. Tapping down manually to 0A so one can start the paddle wheel replacement work tomorrow.  Tuesday, July 18, 2017, 15:31 Paddle wheels for evap2 replaced and up and running again. IG1 = 1.2e-6 Torr. Starting to tap back-up manually...

 Wednesday, July 19, 2017, 14:12

TGHT auto-ramp fixed.

Since TBHT isn't hooked up yet, epics thinks TBHT has tripped off.

Currently during auto-ramp, every time steps up: states TBHT tripped off.

This is not the case but not a big deal as we will soon have TBHT hooked up and this won't be an issue.

Also it only states it, doesn't stop auto-ramp and therefore technically works fine/ will go with this for now...

Note: Might be a few spikes on striptool from past hour when IOC was rebooted.

Laura Lambert wrote:

Laura Lambert wrote: Laura Lambert wrote: Laura Lambert wrote: Laura Lambert wrote:  Wednesday, July 12, 2017, 17:06 Target container was previously coated with TaC and sintered. Container is wrapped with 3 layers of Ta-heat shield, including the center block The target consists of 400 discs of UCx with 13.60cm in length [8 packs of 5 + 360 single discs/ 2.6cm on left side, 2.8cm on right side wrt ionizer into page]. Discs in target are arranged as follows: 1pack / 60singles / 1pack / 60singles / 1pack / 60singles / 2packs / 60singles / 1pack / 60singles / 1pack / 60singles / 1pack A regular TaC coated endcap is inserted left, wrt the ionizer tube pointing down. The right side is open with a TaC coated spring to help hold materials in. The chamber is currently pumping down. TGHT will be ramped up to 450A at 0.1A/min [same current used to reach 1900C in evap2 when sintering TaC coating - elog373 evap2] Parameter setup: 5.0e-5 good vac, 6.0e-5 bad vac. Thursday, July 13, 2017, 12:49 Tapped up manually to 35A. Waited ~2hrs, vacuum stable: IG1 = 2.64e-6 Torr Initiating auto-ramp.    Thursday, July 13, 2017, 14:48 Update: auto-ramp not started. With recent updates to evap1 epics, not everything was uploaded correctly. TGHT auto-ramp system not working: parameter boxes have white outline indicating locked. No parameters can be inputed and therefore unable to start auto-ramp.  Friday, July 14, 2017, 15:56 Problems still not fixed. Have tapped up manually to 50A, 0.59V Vacuum stable; IG1 = 5.26e-6 Torr. Will remain at setpoints over weekend before continuing to ramp up manually...  Monday, July 17, 2017, 15:10 New problems: Paddle wheels for evap2 need replacing asap [see elog evap2 i.d.378] In order to replace, supply/ return need to be turned off and a full purge; therefore, evap1 must be off otherwise it will trip off from no water. Evap2 needs to be fixed asap and cannot wait for this process to be complete. Evap1 had been tapped up manually to 60A. Tapping down manually to 0A so one can start the paddle wheel replacement work tomorrow.  Tuesday, July 18, 2017, 15:31 Paddle wheels for evap2 replaced and up and running again. IG1 = 1.2e-6 Torr. Starting to tap back-up manually...    Wednesday, July 19, 2017, 14:12 TGHT auto-ramp fixed. Since TBHT isn't hooked up yet, epics thinks TBHT has tripped off. Currently during auto-ramp, every time steps up: states TBHT tripped off. This is not the case but not a big deal as we will soon have TBHT hooked up and this won't be an issue. Also it only states it, doesn't stop auto-ramp and therefore technically works fine/ will go with this for now... Note: Might be a few spikes on striptool from past hour when IOC was rebooted.    Wednesday, July 19, 2017, 14:16 Tapped up manually to 30A yesterday. Continued manual tap up today and reached 60A. Initiated auto-ramp. IG1 = 4.4e-6 Torr    Thursday, July 20, 2017, 14:48 TGHT tripped off yesterday evening  Auto-ramping was fixed but a few more glitches in the system caused the TGHT to trip. Please refer to photos. When auto-ramp is running and vacuum reaches the parameter set for 'Good Vacuum', the auto-ramp should stop until the vacuum drops below the good vacuum at which point it can then continue to auto-ramp. When auto-ramp is running and vacuum reaches the parameter set for 'Bad Vacuum', the auto-ramp should initiate auto-cool/ramp-down until the vacuum drops to the good vacuum parameter at which point it can then proceed with the 'Good Vacuum' requirement. With this scenario, the auto-ramp system ignored the parameters set for good and bad vacuum, proceeded past both points and continued to ramp until the vacuum eventually reached it's trip off vacuum causing the TGHT to trip. The TGHT current was at ~90A when it tripped off, so the target should be OK.

 Thursday, July 20, 2017, 15:14

Turns out the auto-ramp was reading the vacuum of 'IGP1' which is what the old ion gauge used to be called for evap1 and is currently one on evap2

AKA attempting to take a vacuum reading from one that doesn't exist for evap1

This ion gauge is now labelled 'IGP' and the auto-ramp system now uses 'IGP' for the vacuum parameter confirmations.

Changed a few things in the auto-ramp system:

-Updated messages.

-Auto-ramp aborts when TGHT/TBHT trips off.

-Displays setpoint it is ramping up to for next step

-Confirms which ion gauge it is reading

-Displays final setpoint and increment on message board

-No longer displays TBHT as 'tripped off' when not running.

System updated.

Laura Lambert wrote:

Thursday, July 13, 2017, 12:48 NOTE: hot lab reached 27degrees every day this week and went up to 28C today!  This is with the small portable fan running. 27C was reached even with both evaporators off. When at 28C: evap2 = ~1500C and evap1 = 35A  Thursday, July 20, 2017, 15:58 Hot lab reached 30C today. Small fan off - unsure if able to run due to contamination spread... Both evap1 and evap2 were under vacuum but had not initiated ramping up yet.

 Thursday, July 27, 2017, 09:06

There was a broken valve motor affecting all ISAC rooms - temporary fix in place.

Ventilation in ISAC hot lab has been increased.

Temperature back to a reasonable level - currently sitting at 22C!

Marla Cervantes wrote:

Marla Cervantes wrote:  Friday, January 19, 2018, 12:29 Circles from cast 1 were used, the same as the last round of 1stepUCx [see elog i.d. 164] A 14mm punch was used to punch out circles from the cast. 35 circles were packed into a graphite sample container. 35 x UO2/C circles = 5.69 g Graphite container = 6.84 g Graphite container is placed inside a target boat. Boat previously coated with TaC and sintered. Ta-target boat is wrapped with 3-layers of heat shield and installed in Evap1. Chamber currently pumping down.    Monday, January 22, 2018, 9:00 A power outage on Sunday tripped off EVAP1.

 Monday, January 22, 2018, 10:00

Chamber pumping down.

Water flow turned on.

Monday, January 22, 2018, 13:30

IGP1 = 8e-6 Torr

Tapped up entire process manually to 520A in 45 min

TGHT = 520 A, 6.08 V 

Vacuum coming down indicating carbonization process complete

Will remain at max setpoint overnight.

Marla Cervantes wrote:

Marla Cervantes wrote:  Monday, January 29, 2018, 09:26 35 circles of 14 mm diameter were packed into a graphite sample container. 35 x UO2/C circles = 4.94 g Graphite container = 5.03 g Graphite tube is placed inside a target boat. Boat previously coated with TaC and sintered. Ta-target boat is wrapped with 3 new Ta foils for heat shielding and the boat was installed in Evap1. Chamber currently pumping down.    Monday, January 29, 2018, 11:06 A power outage around 10 am tripped off EVAP1.

 Monday, January 29, 2018, 14:22

Water flow turned on.

Chamber set to pumping down. 

Marla Cervantes wrote:

Thursday, February 08, 2018, 14:50 35 circles from cast#2 of 14 mm diameter were packed into a graphite sample container. 35 x UO2/C circles = 4.76 g Graphite container = 5.3 g Graphite tube is placed inside a target boat. Boat previously coated with TaC and sintered. Ta-target boat is wrapped with 3 new Ta foils for heat shielding and the boat was installed in Evap1. Chamber currently pumping down.  Friday, February 09, 2018, 10:40 Initial IGP1 = 4.54e-7 Torr Tapped up entire process manually to 520A in 25 min TGHT = 520 A, 5.49 V Vacuum coming down indicating carbonization process complete.   Current suddenly tripped off from 520 A to 0 A. There was not a power outage. There was good vacuum. Water cooling did not trip off

 Friday, February 09, 2018, 16:49

The power supply was tested and its working normally.

Apparently a glitch on EPICS caused the tripped off.

Marla Cervantes wrote:

Tuesday, February 13, 2018, 11:39 35 circles of 14 mm diameter were packed into a graphite sample container. 35 x UO2/C circles = 5.74 g Graphite container = 5.20 g Graphite tube is placed inside a target boat. Boat previously coated with TaC and sintered. Ta-target boat is wrapped with 3 used Ta foils for heat shielding and the boat was installed in Evap1. Chamber currently pumping down.  Tuesday, February 13, 2018, 15:30 Initial IGP1 = 2.73x10e-6 Torr Tapped up entire process manually to 520 A in 30 min TGHT = 520 A, 5.41 V Vacuum coming down nicely indicating carbonization process complete. Current trip off after 5 min of being at 520 A.  Wednesday, February 14, 2018, 15:32 EVAP1 vented with Argon and the target was removed. Target was transferred to glove box. Ta boat and graphite container look unbroken.

 Friday, March 02, 2018, 16:31

A test was performed in EVAP1 (see log ID 194):

- A Ta boat without Ta shielding was submitted to 520 A and it remained at that current point overnight.

-No trip off

Laura Lambert wrote:

Laura Lambert wrote:  Wednesday, March 28, 2018, 11:35 D-shaped discs were cut from cast 2, the same as the last sample of 1stepUCx [see elog i.d. 197] A 13mm punch was used to punch out discs from pre-cut strips using the old method. The target consists of 195 discs with 8.1cm in length - all single discs, no packs. 195 x UO2/C discs = 19.79g Graphite insert is placed inside a target boat with both endcaps on. Boat previously coated with TaC and sintered. Ta-target boat is wrapped with 3-layers of heat shield and installed in evap1 yesterday afternoon. Chamber pumped down overnight.  Wednesday, March 28, 2018, 13:33 IGP1 = 4.03e-7 Torr Tapped up TGHT manually to 80A, 0.83V - waited 50min, vacuum started to drop/stabilize. Continued to tap up manually to 430A, 4.22V Started out slow with a rate of ~10A/5min, and slowly increased to a rate of ~10A/min as vacuum stabilized, slowing down again when reaching carbonization outgassing. Auto ramp at 0.2A/min from 430A-520A. Thursday, March 29, 2018, 10:04 Reached 520A around 2am. TGHT = 520A, 5.13V IGP1 = 1.74e-6 Torr Initiated auto-cool this morning at a rate of 1.0A/min.    Monday, April 09, 2018, 16:00 ISAC controls performed a PLC switch over compromising the nuclear ventilation controls WITHOUT NOTIFYING ME   This is the 2nd time in a month this has happened without being notified. Evap1 has therefore tripped. During this switch there was a problem which caused the turn over to take even longer. Sat here tapping reset until nuclear ventilation was 'back on'. Vacuum proceeded to drop once the tests were complete, then started to spike again, nuc vent remained not ok after tests were done nuc vent ok.

 Monday, April 09, 2018, 16:52

Turns out I wasn't on a list of ppl who need to know about this test when I should be

They also didn't reset the alarms locally outside the hot lab so nuc vent remained not ok until this was reset.

IGP1 reached 0.027 Torr before nuc vent was ok and pumps were able to be turned back on 

Pumps back on IGP1 = 1.86e-5 Torr and still pumping down

 Tuesday, June 26, 2018, 09:30. Gloves on evap 1 changed out. 

The original right one was otrn. Left was o but worn. Both replaced with new gloves.

Marla Cervantes wrote:

John Wong wrote: Thursday, October 11, 2018, 18:06 Target consists of 284 UCx discs, total packing length of 8.0 cm.  Container was previously coated/sintered with TaC (see elog #417) in Evap#2 with TGHT set to 400A and TBHT 230A, but there was a problem with the readback.  Will ramp up TGHT to 400A to see if the carbonization is complete; if not, additional 50A on TGHT can be applied. One end-cap is inserted on the right, wrt to the ionizer, and left end is open.  Vacuum initial setting: Good Vac = 5.0 e-5 Torr, Bad vac = 8.0 e-5 Torr. pressure level will be monitored accordingly... Auto-ramping setting TGHT: 60 wait time, 0.2A/min, final 400A (or addtional of 50 A if required as mentioned above) TGHT: 60 wait time, 0.2A/min, final 230A.  Chamber is currently being pumped down.  Friday, October 12, 2018, 15:35 Chamber has pumped down to 1.8e-6 Torr.  Stepping up TGHT and TBHT to 40A.  Friday, October 12, 2018, 17:07 TGHT/TBTH was held at 40A reaching max pressure of 1.7e-5 before slowly coming down.  Initiated autoramping.  Thursday, October 18, 2018, 11:10 TGHT reached to 400A/3.98V, pressure is coming down from the upper limit at around 320A which indicated the carbonization is approaching to completion (see attachment#1).  However, two more out-gassing steps are typically observed as TGHT reached around 450 A (see previous UCx conditioning process).  Currently the pressure is at 1.04 e-5 torr.  Auto-ramping TGHT to 450A at 1A/min, continue to observe the vacuum...  Thursday, October 18, 2018, 12:57 TGHT reached to 450A/4.6V. Pressure is coming down from 1.6 e-5 Torr. (see attachment#2).  Will remain at this heating current until pressure reached to mid 10-6 torr.    Friday, October 19, 2018, 10:00 TRIUMF had a total power outage, the TBHT  and TGHT current had been ramped down already.

  Sunday, October 21, 2018, 1:00 pm

the pumps went out, and the communication with the IEVAP was recovered on Sunday, the vacuum was 160 mTorr,

the pumps were turned on again.

Marla Cervantes wrote:

Marla Cervantes wrote: Wednesday, January 29 2020, 05:55   A P2N container  with heat shields, and with a UO2/C loaded graphite container was installed in the EVAP1 Chamber is currently being evacuated. Thursday, January 30, 2020, 08:56 Pressure limits: Good vacuum 1e-1 Torr Bad vacuum 5e-1 Torr Initial pressure:  IGP1=1.52e-6Torr Current ramp set to 1A/min to 10 A, voltage is stable. Current ramp increased to 1A/10s to 100 A. The pressure started raising around 80 A. Current was kept 5min at at 100 A, voltage was stable Thursday, January 30, 2020, 09:32  Current ramp set to 1A/20s to 150 A (same pressure limits) Pressure keep increasing during heating Thursday, January 30, 2020, 09:53  Current was kept at 150 min during 5 min, the voltage is stable, pressure started to stabilize: IGP1 = 0.027 Torr TGHT = 0.418 V Ramp set to 1A/min to 200 A. Thursday, January 30, 2020, 10:02 Pressure decreasing: TGHT= 153 A   Thursday, January 30, 2020, 10:15 At 155 A while pressure decreasing, the power supply tripped off, Controls has been notified, waiting for instructions.

 Thursday, January 30, 2020, 11:51

Controls respond "It looks like the power supplies were tripped by either the pirani gauge (IEVAP:IGP1) or the Nuclear vent or by both. But, it did not look like that the interlock tree latched the bad condition when the power supplies tripped. I modified the PLC to properly latch the cause of the trip." and gave green light to restart the carbothermal reduction.

Marla Cervantes wrote:

Marla Cervantes wrote: Marla Cervantes wrote: Marla Cervantes wrote: Marla Cervantes wrote: Marla Cervantes wrote: Wednesday, January 29 2020, 05:55   A P2N container  with heat shields, and with a UO2/C loaded graphite container was installed in the EVAP1 Chamber is currently being evacuated. Thursday, January 30, 2020, 08:56 Pressure limits: Good vacuum 1e-1 Torr Bad vacuum 5e-1 Torr Initial pressure:  IGP1=1.52e-6Torr Current ramp set to 1A/min to 10 A, voltage is stable. Current ramp increased to 1A/10s to 100 A. The pressure started raising around 80 A. Current was kept 5min at at 100 A, voltage was stable Thursday, January 30, 2020, 09:32  Current ramp set to 1A/20s to 150 A (same pressure limits) Pressure keep increasing during heating Thursday, January 30, 2020, 09:53  Current was kept at 150 min during 5 min, the voltage is stable, pressure started to stabilize: IGP1 = 0.027 Torr TGHT = 0.418 V Ramp set to 1A/min to 200 A. Thursday, January 30, 2020, 10:02 Pressure decreasing: TGHT= 153 A   Thursday, January 30, 2020, 10:15 At 155 A while pressure decreasing, the power supply tripped off, Controls has been notified, waiting for instructions.    Thursday, January 30, 2020, 11:51 Controls respond "It looks like the power supplies were tripped by either the pirani gauge (IEVAP:IGP1) or the Nuclear vent or by both. But, it did not look like that the interlock tree latched the bad condition when the power supplies tripped. I modified the PLC to properly latch the cause of the trip." and gave green light to restart the carbothermal reduction.  Thursday, January 30, 2020, 13:09 IGP1=5.9e-6Torr Ramp set to 1A/10s to 200 A Pressure rising too fast at 200 A, current reduced manually to 190 A Pressure start dropping and system tripped, notify to controls again, "The strip tool shows the vacuum level shoot down to 0 then shoot back up for a quick second but that is enough to tell the PLC that IGP is “bad”" Thursday, January 30, 2020, 15:58  Restarting process to try to trip the system on purpose  Initial pressure IGP1 = 2.7e-6Torr Ramp set to 1/A/10s to 200 A, 0.59 V Ramp set to 2A/10s to 300 A Max pressure during process IGP1 = 0.03 Torr Voltage increased and stabilized (see voltage rising). Ramp kept at 2A/10s to 400 A Thursday, January 30, 2020, 16:48  TGHT = 1.54 V, 399.744 A IGP1 = 0.00016 Torr and going down Ramp set to 2A/10s to 500 A Thursday, January 30, 2020, 17:02  TGHT= 1.9V, 499.2 A IGP1 = 0.00014 Torr Ramp set to 2A/10s to 600 A Ramp set to 0.5 A/min to 700 A, ramp stopped at 680 A Manually tapped to 697 A Pressure dropping indicated that carbothermal reduction is done. Unfortunately, the system did not trip.  Contact Gelo for the  next run, such that he can monitor the system and we can spot the problem.  Friday, January 31, 2020, 15:35 The EVP1 was vent with Ar and the P2N target was transferred to the glove box.  Thursday, August 13, 2020, 14:33 XRD analysis of the P2N material showed that the carbothermal reduction was not completed The material was loaded again in its oven, new Ta caps where secured to the edges, the body remained the same The oven was set in the EVAP1 using Ar to avoid oxidation of the P2N material Currently pumping down.  Saturday, August 15, 2020, 14:45  Vacuum is having a strange behavior, pressure shows that is going from 8e-11 to 4e-6 Torr (fig. 200815-Vaccum_P2N) Proceeded to turn off turbo pump Tuesday, August 18, 2020, 10:38 The IGP1 head was replaced with the EVAP1's IGP1 head The vacuum will be started again

 Tuesday, August 18, 2020, 20:44

The pressure reading are normal after swapping the IGP1's gauge head

According to Jonathan Aoki, the electricians will be servicing another MCC which will result in loss of cooling water for about 8 hours starting at 16:00 March 30.  We shouldn't be running the evaporator or any condensers at that time.

Mon Apr 18 18:10:53 2011: 

FEBIAD-HP target (w.o 38295-8) is coated with TaC (previously prepared on Feb 15, 2011).  This target will be used for the SiC run in Oct, 2011.  The target is wrapped with 3 Ta-heat shields and is in the evaporator.  Pumping down of the evaporator is in process, currently vac @ 3.66e-5 Torr.   

Tue Apr 19 11:00:36 2011: Evaporator has been pumped down over night (~17hrs).  Vac is currently at 1.84e-6 Torr (See Attachment#1: pumping down curve).

Tue Apr 19 11:09:49 2011: TGHT @ 30A/0.086V, Vac @ 1.82e-6 Torr.

Tue Apr 19 11:13:05 2011: TGHT @ 60A/0.184V, Vac @ 1.75e-6 Torr.

Tue Apr 19 11:14:06 2011: Auto-heating will begin @ 0.5A/min until vacuum is stable then the auto ramping rate will increase. (See Attachment#2: parameter setup).

Tue Apr 19 14:27:08 2011:  TGHT is currently at 148A/0.65V, vac @ 1.92e-5 Torr.  The pressure spiked up to 7.7e-5 Torr (trip @ 8e-5 Torr) at ~124A.  The current was lowered down to 120A to allow the pressure to come down (See Attachment#3: Vac_curve).   Auto-heating rate has changed to 1A/min. 

Wed Apr 20 10:08:52 2011:  TGHT reached to 700A and stayed for about 5 hours.  ISAC Ops helped to start the auto cooling down process.  (See Attachment#3: Overall Process). 

Tue Apr 26 11:12:36 2011

Result:  The dried coating isn't looking the same like the rest of the target.  Typically, the finished coating looks gray.  But a layer (or line) of light brown coating can been seen from one end of the target to the other end. 

--> This target was heated up to 700A.  Will try to re-heat this again to 820A. 

Re-heating the Target

Tue Apr 26 12:44:30 2011:  Target is wrapped with 3 Ta-heat shield and is in the evaporator which is currently being pumped down. 

Tue Apr 26 17:39:40 2011:  TGHT was tapped up to 70A before began with auto-heating @ 2A/min to 820A max.  Currently TGHT at 204A/1.0V, Vac @ 3.97e-6 Torr.  ISAC Ops will help to start auto cooling at 04:00 on April 27.

Wed Apr 27 12:26:41 2011: Auto cooling completed.  P/S off and evaporator is vented, (See Attachment#5: Overall Process_2).  Target oven looks good; finished surface looks gray, as expected.