Custom control system developed for new synchrotron

Heason Technology has been awarded a contract by the Danish particle accelerator equipment manufacturer Danfysik to supply a control system and software package for micropositioning magnetic array insertion devices for the next-generation NSLS-II National Synchrotron Light Source at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, USA, which is under construction and due for completion in 2015.

This project involves the supply of six complete EPICS-based control systems, with each controller capable of four-axis synchronised motion, interfacing with the Danfysik-built advanced permanent insertion devices that are known as Moveable Gap Damping Wigglers. Insertion devices are used to generate synchrotron radiation and the damping wigglers reduce the beam emittance so as to ensure the optimum luminosity as well as provide a broadband, high-intensity source of X-ray radiation. The new Brookhaven electron storage facility will have a beam intensity that is some 10,000 times larger than its predecessor and one important and topical area of science that will be explored is to investigate the potential for clean, affordable energy.

Heason Technology will undertake the design, production and development of the control system hardware and software with assembly and local testing at its facility in West Sussex, as well as on-site installation and test in Denmark during 2012. The scope of supply includes an I/O controller for general-purpose machine interfacing, temperature and other system-critical sensors, along with a Delta Tau Geo Brick motion controller with stepper motor drives and additional I/O for high-resolution encoders, motor brakes and limit switches for four-axis motion control. A GUI will provide user-level screens for the operational use of the Wiggler, as well as lower-level engineering control and status screens for testing, fault-finding, calibration and commissioning.

Synchrotron experience

Heason Technology's expertise in this area of control system technology stems from several years' experience in synchrotron engineering with customers including Diamond Light Source in the UK, CERN in Switzerland and Synchrotron Soleil in France.

The Brookhaven NSLS-II facility will eventually accommodate at least 58 beamlines, using 27 straight sections for insertion-device sources and 31 bending-magnet wiggler sources, with additional beamlines possible through canted insertion devices and multiple branches.

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