DATA ACQUISITION FOR SNS BEAM LOSS MONITOR SYSTEM

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) beam loss monitor system uses VME based electronics to measure the radiation produced by lost beam. Beam loss signals from cylindrical argon-filled ion chambers and neutron detectors will be conditioned in analog front-end (AFE) circuitry. These signals will be digitized and further processed in a dedicated VME crate. Fast beam inhibit and low-level, long-term loss warnings will be generated to provide machine protection. The fast loss data will have a bandwidth of 35kHz. While the low level, long-term loss data will have much higher sensitivity. This is further complicated by the 3 decade range of intensity as the Ring accumulates beam. Therefore a bandwidth of 100kHz and dynamic range larger than 21 bits data acquisition system will be required for this purpose. Based on the evaluation of several commercial ADC modules in preliminary design phase, a 24 bits Sigma-Delta data acquisition VME bus card was chosen as the SNS BLM digitizer. An associated vxworks driver and EPICS device support module also have been developed at BNL. Simulating test results showed this system is fully qualified for both fast loss and low-level, long-term loss application. The first prototype including data acquisition hardware setup and EPICS softwaremore » (running database and OPI clients) will be used in SNS Drift Tube Linac (DTL) system commissioning.« less