Update on Test Beam Preparation

TileCal Update meeting today. Carlos kicked off proceedings with a summary of progress and the timetable going forward. He also had a slide listing all areas of activity and the collaborations from various institutions. The University of the Witwatersrand was right up there! Carlos also mentioned that he was hugely impressed by the interest shown by young people, all willing to help with the Upgrade. Several of those young people are of course from Wits.

Carlos Presenting Overview

The Extended Barrel was taken from the Caesium calibration area and loaded onto a truck along with the freshly painted placement bracket. Protection of the fibres and detector elements was vital and the heavy plastic coverings can be seen in the picture below. It is now down in the test beam area and mounted on the table. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when it was safely on the table!

Barrel and Bracket on truck ready for transport

Cabling for all the Electronics and Control systems is now in place and most of it has been connected and tested. The table safety system has been successfully tested and now awaits vetting by CERN Safety. The table motion controller is nearly complete. To see such a huge table move so smoothly is a real sight!

Yours truly soldering cables

Louis and I checking cabling

The PPR system was also disconnected and taken down to join the rest of the electronics in the 19" control room racks. It needed a box in which to house it. The housing has now been completed by Dean, Oscar and myself, ready for the installation of the electronics boards, optical fibre and other cabling.

One of the Instrumentation Racks

Filipe  and Oscar trying out PPR component placement in the 19" housing

Daniel and Oscar measuring up

Competed housing with panel holes and circuit board standoffs

Plans are also going ahead for setting aside an area for the Shift Workers to occupy. Two computers with dual monitors have been set up for real-time display of data during the beam. The Table Safety Control Box will be in the same area, from which the view of the Beam Chamber is unobstructed.

Carlos and Dean in consultation about the Shift Room

It looks like everything is on schedule and with just over a week till Test Beam, things are hotting up. 

More news soon!