All Hands on Deck

November 26, 2011

NSLS operations coordinator Lenny Pharr building panels for Wayne Rambo that will be used for cable management in the instrumentation racks. NSLS-II will have 80 instrumentation racks, each needing eight of these panels.

A regular parade of folks wearing hard hats walking between buildings 725 and 740 is clear evidence that Photon Sciences staff members who used to be exclusively engaged in operating NSLS are now actively participating in installing equipment at NSLS-II. Over the course of the past year, as part of the larger groups in the new Photon Sciences organization structure, the work assignments of staff members that were previously only involved with NSLS operational responsibilities have been broadened to include assignments related to the NSLS-II Project.

The staff that handles NSLS RF and power systems is now also busy working with the NSLS-II linac vendor to install the klystrons, modulators, and all of the support equipment. Over the summer, they traveled to the vendor facilities in Europe to inspect equipment. They were also tasked to help install and commission the linac front-end equipment in Bldg. 729 prior to installation in 740, to support magnetic measurements, low-level RF and pulsed magnet R&D, and to assist with some personnel protection systems (PPS) support.

Similarly, those who work on NSLS interlocks are now also responsible for installing electronic PPS equipment at NSLS-II, which includes components of the personnel search system for securing the accelerator enclosures. Staff who provide electrical support for NSLS operations is also now building NSLS-II pilot tone combiner modules, beam dump faraday cup components, the small aperture flag interface, and programmable logic controls for the flags and the energy slit motors. Staff members who provide mechanical operations support for NSLS operations are also now responsible for installing the NSLS-II booster ring and transport lines. They are also manufacturing mechanical components and structures for the groups handling utilities, electrical engineering, mechanical systems, and beamlines for NSLS-II. And staff who provide utilities support for NSLS operations is also now working with vendors to install NSLS-II pump skids, including all of the support piping, manifolds, and pump controls, as well as cooling-system components for the high-power electrical systems. Finally, the electricians are busy installing electrical equipment and the many miles of cables.

While systems technical and engineering experts who support NSLS operations in various fields such as mechanical, utilities, controls, instrumentation, and RF have been fully integrated into NSLS-II Project tasks, the need for control-room operations experts is developing. Although some NSLS control room staff members have been helping to plan commissioning and early operations, personnel involved in NSLS ops have many talents that are very useful for NSLS-II equipment installation. Hence, they have been busy helping with many electrical and mechanical tasks such as modifying electronic assemblies and building panels for the electrical engineering and instrumentation teams. Filling these needs, which began in the early summer, requires that the NSLS control room staff come in during one of their off-shift days. Although up until now they have been working only in the tech shop area off of the NSLS control room, they are all trained and prepared to work in 740 or any other PS building when the need arises.

NSLS operations is still a top priority for Photon Sciences, and the dedication of the staff to that was clearly reflected in the outstanding high levels of reliability for the X-Ray and VUV/IR rings in fiscal year 2011 (achieved, in part, by the continued excellent support by staff willing to come in during off-hours for emergencies). The larger groups and more coordinated management resulting from the reorganization have enabled us to not only continue to operate NSLS very well, but to also more effectively use the skills and expertise of all of our staff to bring NSLS-II from the drawing board to physical reality and eventually to a fully operational facility, ready to serve our user community in ways far superior to what the current NSLS facility can deliver.

— Emil Zitvogel, Group Leader for Accelerator Operations, Photon Sciences Directorate

2011-2774  |  INT/EXT  |  Newsroom