Automated startup of the CEBAF 45 MeV injector

• Main Authors: Kehne, D., Letta, P., Dunham, B., Kazimi, R.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Electron accelerators; Electron beams; Extraterrestrial measurements; Hardware; Length measurement; Magnets; Particle beams; Radio frequency; Reproducibility of results; Voltage
• DOI: 10.1109/PAC.1997.751248

In order to improve the speed and reproducibility of restoring the beam in the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) 45 MeV injector after a full or partial shutdown of the accelerator, a program has been written using the Tcl/Tk scripting language to automate most of the required steps. The procedure is separated into four main parts. The first part performs preliminary checks that verify that the hardware is set correctly and then turns on the main interlocked systems including high power magnets and RF. The second step turns on the gun high voltage. The final steps turn on the beam and verify that the beam quality is satisfactory by measuring the transmission, orbit, transverse beam size, and bunch length. Minor corrections for phasing are also performed in the program. In order to identify inefficiencies in the startup, each is timed and parameter changes are logged so that system drifts can be tracked. This paper describes the software implementation, the logic to achieve a successful startup, and efficiency results.