sPHENIX discussion of the superconducting solenoid

[Kin Yip <kinyip AT bnl.gov>]

1. We have had to give way to the RF group to work the ERL tests so that 
we can't start the field-joint work on Monday (Nov. 30).
    They have promised to finish their work on Dec. 15, 2015 and we can 
do whatever we want after that.   Yousef has reminded us
    that it's possible the RF group may finish their work before Dec. 15.

    We need (Roberto's estimate):

    ~3 days to warm up the cryo system
    5 days for the field-joint work (such as welding ....)

    Hopefully by then, we're all ready for the final safety walkthrough 
--- we actually have a safety presentation on Dec. 8, which is
    let those people know what they're going to expect/check.

    Before the low-field test can start, we need

   ~10 days to cool down from room temp. to 80K and then 4 days to cool 
from 80K to 4.5 K.
    [  During the nitrogen cool-down to 80K, the cryo system in ERL/VTF 
can be used if it's needed. ]

    The last two weeks of Dec. are ~3.5/3 day weeks due to 
X'mas/New-Year holiday which is not convenient for scheduling. Adding
    all these days to Dec. 15, the earliest time that we can do the 
low-field test would be early Jan.    We can make the real plan
    (in time) when the RF group completes their work.


2. During the meeting, we've discuss various things that need to be done 
before the low-field test can be performed.

 --- Achim Franz told us that he's buying cables for his magnetic field 
measurement system and sent his probe etc. to be
     calibrated (for the long distance).  There are 2D probes and 1 D 
probes which are dealt with differently.  In any case,
     he expects to receive his cables/equipment back in a couple weeks.

 --- During the meeting, we discussed a bit about how the cabling will 
be done.  After the meeting, Paul Giannotti, Piyush Joshi and I
     went to the sPHENIX Magnet in Bldg. 912 and it's clear that we'll 
need to talk with Dave Phillips about how/where the cables are
     coming down from the top platform.  There are more than 1 possible 
ways ... We hope to meet with Dave on Monday in 912 to
     discuss this ...

--- Dave told us before the meeting that after discussing with D. 
Donaldson, it'd be the week of Dec. 21 when the electricians
     will be available to do the cable tray.   Ed O'Brien told us that 
they have one electrician available and we'll discuss with Dave to see
     whether is possible to do the cable tray work earlier.

--- Ray Ceruti raised the question about the linear potentiometers.   He 
told us that the 4 old ones left for us from BaBar were not reliable.
     It's decided to purchase 4 new ones and we'll connect them to 
Joshi's DAQ system so that they can be read out for the test.

--- From the discussion with Ray and Roberto Than, it seems that they 
couldn't put in two new temperature gauges in time as the splices
     were already wrapped up.  But these two new temperature gauges 
were not needed for the low-field test.   In addition, the Cryo group have
     installed two other new temperature gauges (elsewhere).

--- The requisition order for the valve box extension work has been sent 
out and Ed's side is dealing with it.  If all go well, I understand that 
this
     work (managed by Central Shop and they may send some works outside 
BNL).

--- Jim Mills told us that so far he's not succeeded to gain fund to 
purchase the Maxwell part of ANSYS (which requires $24K) from C-AD, the
    Superconducting Magnet Division and ITD.   The sPHENIX project is 
considering whether it's worth buying this .... This is originally 
thought to use
    ANSYS to do both the magnetic field calculation and the stress 
calculation.   Some more thought have been discussed such as whether John
    Cozzolino's high stress (>60 MPa) might be due to sharp 
edges/boundaries ... Achim has reminded us that Walter Sondheim has used 
"Opera" to do
    the field calculations just like Wuzheng Meng's.  Before the pCDR 
was written, Walter compared his results with Wuzheng's.  He didn't 
mention any
    major discrepancies that he's found.


https://indico.bnl.gov/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=1584