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November
13, 2008
Operations Newsletter
Volume 6 - Issue 7
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On
this day: 1971 - The American space probe, Mariner 9, becomes the first
spacecraft to orbit another planet successfully, swinging into its
planned trajectory around Mars.
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In
this Month's Operations Newsletter...
The Holidays, New Operators, and Effort Reports - Dan
Johnson
 The Holidays, New
Operators, and Effort.
Shortly, I will have the shift schedule posted through the beginning of
January. Yes, the schedule will be out for the holiday
periods. What if you forgot to put in your request for time
off? As luck would have it, not very many people have requested
time off, so get your request in soon. Please try to give us as
much vacation notice as possible. Shift trades should also be
considered. Thanks to all of those who have and will offer to
help out. As a reminder for the holidays, if you are scheduled
for backup on a lab-recognized holiday, you take the time off with pay.
 If you haven't met
Rachel yet, you should introduce yourself. We have two pending
offers, in various stages. We will keep you posted.
Please remember to fill out your effort reports, leave sheets, and
dosimeter readings. During the holiday, they may be due at
various times other than Monday, so get them in on time. When
filling out the effort report you should be using one of two categories
for reporting work. Use either the "Salaries-Accelerator
Operations" or "Professional Development" if you are going to
Accelerator School. The "PC Support-Accelerator Operations"
should only be used by Don Rohde. Of course the "Furlough,"
"Unpaid Leave," or "Paid Time Off" can be used to complete your effort
as needed. If you are confused, please ask one of us.
Thanks!
Candy Dispenser - Wally Kissel
 A zillion years ago
(well maybe early 1990's) we had a candy dispenser in the MCR. It was
similar to the picture and was sometimes filled with M&M's or
Skittles. When the MCR's glass wall was removed, so was this
unit. There was a location issue. I'm willing to consider
reinstating this, given a reasonable location and general operations
department positive support.
- CandyMan
Fox Valley Rocketeers
 Welcome to the Fox Valley Rocketeers
NAR Section #683 (FVR for short). We are a group of model rocketeers in
the Fox Valley area of Northern Illinois - our membership is roughly
centered in McHenry County. We meet once per month, typically the first
Monday, at either the Woodstock or McHenry libraries.
The next FVR Launch is currently scheduled for 1 pm, Saturday, November
15th at Hughes Seed Farm - Just south of Highway 14 on Dimmel Road,
Woodstock. They have included a map link to the
address. Signs will be posted the afternoon of the launch showing
the way. Please do not go knocking on farmhouses asking where the
launch is - they won't know. We are having a NAR contest launch event.
You don't have to be a member to come to our launch, you don't need
launch equipment, but if you've got a rocket and motors, bring them out
and fly. See our Launch
page for guidelines on our launches. Keep an eye on your e-mail and
on this website for possible changes to this launch date. We are not
certain that the crops will be out yet. I'll have an update here
if the date changes and an email will certainly go out to our mailing
list.
The Pbar Target Failure - Stan Johnson
At the end of the owl shift on October 31 (Happy Halloween), we
suddenly stopped stacking. We were still taking beam into the
target vault, but there was no antiprotons going through the AP2
line. The problem was traced to an unusual failure. The
target had actually separated from the mounting plate on the target.
The above picture was taken with a camera mounted on a stick after
opening up the vault. You can see the six broken bolts in the
picture where the target separated from the mounting plate. The
first question is why did the bolts break? Was there something
wrong with the bolts that were installed, or was there a different
problem?
This target was installed during the short maintenance period during
the first week of October. The installed target was a new
design. It is a solid target with air blown down the middle of
the cylinder through a heat exchanger arrangement. The outside of
the target has a pressure fitted beryllium cover. The cover stops
the oxidation during the targeting process. This was done to
extend the life of the targets.
The above picture is of the target as it was getting installed.
Notice that the cover has small gaps at both the top and bottom of the
assembly.
The above picture was taken after a week of running during an access to
the target vault. In this picture notice that the gap at the
bottom is now bigger and there is no gap at the top.
The current theory has the beryllium cover walking up the target and
putting enough pressure on the bolts that over time the pressure was
enough to shear the bolts off. The walk was most likely due to
some kind of temperature gradient. This design is not dead but it
has been sent back to the drawing board to better understand what
happened.
Cartoon by Nick
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