Last Updated on Sunday, February 01, 2004 at 18:38:11. by Author: Gerrit van Nieuwenhuizen

SpeCal General Information/Help

(Expert)

 

Running Instructions

Reference

Running Instructions

What do I do when...

There is stable beam and I want to take data.

  1. Make sure the DAQ is not already running with writing. If it is, stop the run.
  2. Load the HV file named "BEAM2DET.DAT".
    1. If you do not have a menu on the screen, push escape. (This will get you out of monitor mode.)
    2. You do NOT need to turn HV off.
    3. Push 2 and [Enter] ("Read and apply settings from file")
    4. Type "BEAM2DET.DAT". This is the name of the HV file you want for normal beam data taking.
    5. If HV was off, turn it on by hitting 1 and [Enter].
  3. Put the SpeCal HV program in monitor mode.
    1. Push 7 and [Enter] ("Monitor mode")
    2. Change default value to 40 and hit [ENTER]
    3. Change default value to 40 and hit [ENTER]
    4. Change default value to 10 (every 10 seconds) and hit [ENTER]
    5. In the lower left hand corner, the computer will say "Reading voltages..." Wait for this message to go away.
      Most likely there will be some error messages, please ignore them.
  4. Make sure other detectors are in the correct state and start a DAQ run.

RHIC is about to dump.

  1. Make sure the DAQ is not running with writing. If it is, stop the run.
  2. Load the HV file named "UNSTBEAM.DAT".
    1. If you do not have a menu on the screen, push escape. (This will get you out of monitor mode.)
    2. Push 2 and [Enter] ("Read and apply settings from file")
    3. Type "UNSTBEAM.DAT". This is the name of the HV file you want when there may be radiation spikes.
  3. Put the SpeCal HV program in monitor mode.
    1. Push 7 and [Enter] ("Monitor mode")
    2. Change default value to 40 and hit [ENTER]
    3. Change default value to 40 and hit [ENTER]
    4. Change default value to 10 (every 10 seconds) and hit [ENTER]
    5. In the lower left hand corner, the computer will say "Reading voltages..." Wait for this message to go away.
      Most likely there will be some error messages, please ignore them.

RHIC is about to inject.

  1. Make sure the DAQ is not running with writing. If it is, stop the run.
  2. Load the HV file named "UNSTBEAM.DAT".
    1. If you do not have a menu on the screen, push escape. (This will get you out of monitor mode.)
    2. Push 2 and [Enter] ("Read and apply settings from file")
    3. Type "UNSTBEAM.DAT". This is the name of the HV file you want when there may be radiation spikes.
  3. Put the SpeCal HV program in monitor mode.
    1. Push 7 and [Enter] ("Monitor mode")
    2. Change default value to 40 and hit [ENTER]
    3. Change default value to 40 and hit [ENTER]
    4. Change default value to 10 (every 10 seconds) and hit [ENTER]
    5. In the lower left hand corner, the computer will say "Reading voltages..." Wait for this message to go away.
      Most likely there will be some error messages, please ignore them.

There is a VME latchup

Go to the DAQ instructions for the latest info on resetting the VME crate.

The HV monitoring program seems to be hanging

  1. If the program is running in full screen mode hit <ALT><ENTER> to get into windows mode.
  2. When in windows mode hit <CTRL><ALT><DELETE>, this will popup a control window. Click on the 'TaskManager' button.
  3. In the TaskManager there will be one program running with something like '....nanom beam2det.dat...', it's probably selected already. Hit the 'End Task' button and confirm. Exit from TaskManager.
  4. Click on the icon on the bottom of the screen names 'SpeCalHV'. This will pop up a window with the HV control program already running in it. Hit <ALT><ENTER> to go into full screen mode.
  5. The program has loaded the file 'unstbeam.dat', change to 'beam2det.dat' when there is stable beam and you want to take data.
  6. Switch on the HV.
  7. Go into monitoring mode, see, for instance, the checklist instructions below.

 

Some other condition not covered above.

Ensure that the SpeCal is ON, unless otherwise instructed by SpeCal expert, with HV file name "UNSTBEAM.DAT".

Reference

CheckList Instructions

Go to the "SpeCal HV Control" computer.

  1. Look in the top left hand corner of the screen. If you see "High Voltage: ON", go to step 2. If you see "High Voltage: OFF", go to step 8.
  2. If you do not see a menu, go to step 3. If you do see a menu, do the following to start monitor mode.
    1. Push 7 and [Enter] ("Monitor mode")
    2. Change default value to 40 and hit [ENTER]
    3. Change default value to 40 and hit [ENTER]
    4. Change default value to 10 (every 10 seconds) and hit [ENTER]
    5. In the lower left hand corner, the computer will say "Reading voltages..." Wait for this message to go away.
      Most likely there will be some error messages, please ignore them.
    6. Make sure high voltage is "ON". If not, call an expert.
    7. Make sure the input file is correct:
    8. If RHIC is about to end the store, make sure the input file is "UNSTBEAM.DAT". If not, follow the instructions above for "What do I do when RHIC is about to dump?"
    9. If you are taking normal beam data, make sure input file is "BEAM2DET.DAT". If not, follow the instructions above for "What do I do when there is stable beam and I want to take data?"
    10. If you are not taking data, make sure input file is "UNSTBEAM.DAT". If not, follow the instructions above for "What do I do when RHIC is about to inject?"
  3. Leave the program in this state.
 

How to turn on/off the SpeCal

ON

  1. Go to "SpeCal HV Control" computer
  2. At the prompt, type:
    C:\SPECAL>nanom UNSTBEAM.DAT
  3. The screen should quickly flash message "Sending data" in the lower right corner. If it doesn't, call an expert.
  4. You should be presented with a menu, with number of options: Type at prompt "Choose a digit",  
        1 [ENTER]
  5. At the top left hand part of screen you should see
        "High Voltage: ON"
    if you don't call SpeCal expert. If you do, HV is on.

OFF

If you can see a menu, do the following:

  1. At prompt "Choose a digit", 0 <ENTER>
  2. At the top left hand part of the screen you should see
        "High Voltage: OFF". HV is now off.

If you do not see a menu, do the following:

  1. Hit the "Esc" key, this will return you to the main menu, then follow instructions above.

If this does not work, call an expert.

How to turn on the SpeCal HV monitoring mode

  1. If you see a DOS prompt, stop. Follow the instructions for turning on the SpeCal HV.
  2. If you do not see a DOS prompt but do not have a menu, stop. You are already in monitor mode.
  3. If you see a menu, continue to step 4.
  4. Push 7 and [Enter] ("Monitor mode")
  5. Change default value to 40 and hit [ENTER]
  6. Change default value to 40 and hit [ENTER]
  7. Change default value to 10 (every 10 seconds) and hit [ENTER]
  8. In the lower left hand corner, the computer will say "Reading voltages..." Wait for this message to go away.
    Most likely there will be some error messages, please ignore them.

Monitoring Mode Description (Ignore this section for the time being)

    In monitoring mode the SpeCal checks that the read back voltages are within tolerances of the set voltages, and the previous read back.

How to tell if a channel is out of range?

The monitoring screen will looks like

                     Monitoring Voltages
stn    drv    chn    volt0    volt1    volt2    new-old   Test #     1

 

If there are no entries under this table, then there is no problem, and all channels are within range.

If there are entries under this table then these channels are outside the tolerance. For example

                    Monitoring Voltages
stn    drv    chn    volt0    volt1    volt2    new-old   Test #     1
 1      3     10      800      600      600      200

 

Note: 

Volt0 = the set point voltage

Volt1 = Previous read back voltage

Volt 2 = Current read back voltage

new-old=Volt2-Volt1

Please send all comments and suggestions regarding this page to Gerrit