Vacuum Controls and Diagnostics

TL;DR

This paper details CERN's vacuum control system, covering hardware, software, and diagnostics, with emphasis on environmental challenges like noise and radiation affecting system reliability.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the vacuum control system architecture, including hardware, software, and safety features, tailored for high-energy physics accelerators.

Findings

Effective noise mitigation strategies implemented

Robust hardware interlock and alarm systems established

Supervisory software enables comprehensive diagnostics

Abstract

This paper describes the CERN's vacuum control system from the field devices to the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition software. First, a particular attention is given to the environment present in the accelerators, like noise coupling and ionizing radiation, which can affect the quality of the measurements and the reliability of the system. Then, the main vacuum instruments and their associated conditioning circuits and controllers are presented, before to introduce the hardware interlock logic and alarms used for the vacuum system and the machine protection. Finally, the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition software and its architecture are described, including data engineering and the main functionalities provided to the users for controls and diagnostics.