1

MICE Funding Agency CommitteeTechnical Status of the MICE Project

Contents:• Technical organisation of project• Target• Decay solenoid• Infrastructure• Moving towards Phase Two• Progress with the major subsystems• Risks and worries

Andy Nichols, STFC, 24th April 2009

2

Technical Organisation

•Project organisation seems to be on an even keel:– PM/Technical Co-ordinator – Andy Nichols– Hall Manager/Principal Contractor – Willie Spensley– Hall Foreman – Ash Jamdagni– ISIS liaison – Chris Rogers– MICE Operations Manager (MOM) – rolling monthly post,

currently Paul Soler of Glasgow University– And we have a stable group of well-motivated technicians from

both STFC and the Collaboration•Communication and meetings:

– Technical Board – now monthly– Weekly Hall planning meetings– Now-weekly MICO (Mice Installation and Commissioning)

meetings – each sub work-package has defined milestones that are tracked each week

– Project progress is also reported regularly to PSAG & CPMB meetings-

– invaluable help from DL team for electrical installation, RF work and PPS

3

Target

– Quote from the last FAC meeting.......– ‘Good news is that the current online target behaves

itself very well and we have enough running budget with ISIS for MICE’s anticipated programme till May 2009’

– But I spoke too soon......!

Loose collar vibrated fromShaft and caused seizureAnd bent shaft – terminal failureTip also melted, but the eventsAre decoupled – happened whenLeft in beam – interlock nowPrevents thisLuckily no damage to ISIS

4

Target

Target recovery plan:– Re-engineering exercise underway– Simplified bearings– Cylindrical shaft– Rigorous QA on :

• Dimensional integrity• Material selection• Surface treatment & coating

– Modification to monitor working temperature

Status:– Manufacture drawings are done– Most parts are underway– Target control & power projects

largely unchanged – already reliable

– Target assemblies delivered late July

– Plan to install August shutdown 17th Aug-2nd Sept

Decay SolenoidFrom the last meeting:

– ‘’There are two sets of five S/C coils (1-5) (6-10) with 10 at the downstream end

– Coil 10 is normally conducting, this is the plan:

– Additional temp monitoring fixed to cold mass during October

– Diagnostic cooldown taking place now’’

Since then:– Quite compelling evidence of

radiant heat path through thin windows onto cold mass

– Built a steel shield inside ISIS to allow DSA work

– Fix is to apply multi-layer insulation (MLI behind windows

– Has been done at both ends

5

6

Decay Solenoid

Current status of solenoid:–MLI repairs complete both ends–Solenoid cooled over Easter, now stable at working temperature–Insulating vacuum pumping rigs doubled and gate valves fitted–Quench protection circuitry causing problems – hope the fault is in readout electronics – easier to fix–Essential to fix before full power test–So far the magnet has accepted 400 amps under controlled conditions–Needs to be ~870 amps for nominal field strength–Decay solenoid has to be working for August

7

Infrastructure•The Infrastructure civil engineering project is essentially complete:

•All walls, floors and galleries are done•Air conditioning making good progress, finish mid –May•Ditto compressed air installation – only electrical connection and pipework remain

•Plan to close MICE hall for all of June for decorating and fire detection wiring •Will be ready to accept spectrometer solenoid and Step II in July

Infrastructure

• Liquid hydrogen project• Good progress, but not out of the wood yet• R&D system vendors have been visited with STFC

Procurement staff• Got it going again!• Staff shortage hopefully solved:• Applied scientist in post• Graduate engineer starts 1st September• Ventilation system and ducting is being tendered now• R&D system driven by requirement for Step IV in

spring 2010• Cautious optimism over decay solenoid; this will

liberate significant effort

8

9

Moving towards Phase Two

• Steps II to V are discretely identified in WBS now• Engineering effort to provide each

one at RAL is now called ‘integration’

• Covers mechanical/electrical installation, design and procurement of parts and equipment

• Tasks have been defined in some detail

• Almost completely driven by:• Delivery of major subsystems• Availability of manpower/size

of allocation• ISIS running schedule

Incoming muon beam

VariableDiffuser

Beam PIDTOF 0

CherenkovsTOF 1

Trackers 1 & 2 measurement of emittance in and out

Liquid Hydrogen absorbers 1,2,3

DownstreamTOF 2

particle ID:KL and EMR

Calorimeter

RF cavities 1 RF cavities 2

Spectrometer solenoid 1

Matching coils 1&2

Focus coils 1 Spectrometer solenoid 2

Coupling Coils 1&2

Focus coils 2 Focus coils 3Matching coils 1&2

Progress with Major subsystems

Progress with Major subsystems

11

12

Progress with Major subsystemsSpectrometer solenoid #1:

•All fabrication complete at Wang NMR•Leak test OK•Pump down OK•Cooling down now or very soon•Aiming to ship to FNAL for field mapping during May•Two months’ work•Arrives at RAL with luck in July•TOF 2, diffuser & tracker will also be ready on this timescale•Spectrometer solenoid #2 follows in a few months•Spool-piece for Step III is here, LiH solid absorber in progress at FNAL

13

Progress with major subsystems

•AFC- Absorber Focus Coil #1:•Making steady progress with Tesla engineering in UK•Early problems with coil former forging now solved•But at the expense of dimensional clash with Lh2 absorber•Recent problem – needs to go to MICE Technical Board•Will not be allowed to stop work at Tesla•AFC very clearly critical path for Step IV•Should be noted as a high risk•Delivery now February 2010•Monitoring of manufacturer crucial•AFC #2 follows six months after #1•#3 forms part of UK Step VI bid in December 2009

14

Progress with Major subsystems

RFCC – RF Coupling Coil Module #1–Organisational problems with vendors in China are now fixed thanks to much hard work by all parties–New subcontractor for coupling coils has been visited and selected–Successful review in December 2008–First RF cavity is now in manufacture with US vendor–Firm delivery date for RFCC #1 not defined yet – assumed to be late 2010 for schedule purposes–RFCC and RF installation will be largest undertaking for UK team – early links between LBNL & RAL groups for ‘hands-on’ aspect have been made

Progress with major subsystems

Trackers:– Both trackers now in

dedicated lab at RAL– All readout systems

installed– Four VLPC cryostats

installed and working– Tracker #2 being made

ready for cosmic run– Both trackers being set up

to run with real DAQ– Tracker project going very

happily – not on critical path

15

16

Risks and Worries

Another quote from last meeting:‘Electrical supply upgrade for Phase Two

– By December 2009 – April 2010, an upgrade to a 2MVA electrical supply will be essential for MICE to run

– Much work has been done by BPG & DL to make a series of detailed costed options (from 100 to 600 K£), with lead times of up to two years, so we are already late

– It’s a non-MICE cost; Sean Stewart of STFC Operations has been asked to consider it as capital expenditure

– It’s another potential risk…..’Since then:

– Cheaper design using existing transformer has been made by DL group- £75K, not £600

– Detailed design layout and proposal made – ready to start discussion with STFC Operations Board

– Not a budgetted MICE cost

Risks & Worries• None of us have much slack in our schedules• The overall schedule heavily depends on the subsystem deliveries – actually only a few dates, but we have to know what’s driving them• Most activities are ‘plan for success’ only• The scope of the project has to converge with the resources available for installation – sounds obvious, but it’s not clear how we do it right now• The ISIS moderator change (August 2010 – March 2011) might have a major impact on MICE schedule

• Comment on project staffing:•PM & budget holder need help with planning and reporting – positive response from UKATC – they have the right expertise – meeting planned for early May•Helpful offer of technician effort from Sofia – could help alleviate effort crisis – will explore more

17