Minutes of meeting on Tuesday 6/4/99 held in Liverpool ====================================================== Present ------- Tim Greenshaw, Rob Hendersen, Derrick Hill, Graham Houghton, Girish Patel, Dave Sankey, Terry Sloan, Graham Stokes. 1) Actions from meeting on 4/3/99 Graham H -------- Graham showed us a first go at a finite element analysis of the gas tank. This is complicated by the fact that the disc springs used to support the tank at the front right foot cannot easily be represented using the available software. Graham plans to do some more work on this model. Graham also showed us the latest schedules. If we work on two planars in parallel, we will certainly be able to complete all the originally required planars on time (i.e. 3+1 new chambers, where the 3 are those we actually need and we are allowing one for learning purposes). We can probably manage to build 5 (6) new chambers in the time available, which would allow us to replace completely the radial chambers if this appears necessary. Graham mentioned that a new wiring table was being prepared to allow two chambers to be constructed in parallel. Graham pointed out that there are times (end of August 1999 and through September 1999) when up to 8 people will be needed for construction. Currently 4 are available at Daresbury. Extra effort must be found from the Universities to help out here! Action ------ Graham to include actual times needed for wiring cells etc. in schedules and to spend a little more time on FEA of gas tank Tim/Terry to see what technical help can be organised for construction. Tim --- Karsten Gadow has not yet managed to find, or pass on, information on the actual position of the support rails for the FT in H1. Tim has brought two scanners from DESY. According to Guenter Eckerlin one of them works and the other doesn't! Don has given us three FADC adapter cards (COZ design), these are now with Derrick. A DESY crimp tool plus one of the planar crimp tools were passed on to Graham H. Action ------ Tim to ship scanners to Manchester and to talk again with Karsten. Terry ----- Terry reported that the 'scope we want for testing the new planars is not where he thought it was, and that the person who probably knows where it now is was not to be found Action ------ Terry to continue pursuing 'scope and check spec with Scott. Derrick ------- Derrick thinks we have enough cables for testing. Dave ---- Dave outlined some of the requirements for the testing of the planars. It was decided that we should aim to be able to read out 6 cells (i.e. 3 FADC cards). This upper limit is set by the available power supplies for the current hungry FADCs. It was decided that an additional set of trigger scintillators would give us improved flexibility in the tests. It was unclear whether there is a CAEN power supply available anywhere. I was decided that purchasing another CAEN (general RAL M&O budget) would be a good idea, to make sure we have one and later as a spare. (ZEUS have recently run into problems when one of their units failed.) In order to ensure that all the necessary test equipment is available and functioning, it was suggested that we try and get everything up and running for the end of June. The gas/HV equipment could be assembled at Daresbury, the DAQ at RAL or Manchester. We could then try a dummy test in July at Daresbury, using the prototype planar, to identify problems before the first new planars are ready. Dave warned us that we have to ensure that our DAQ system is accessible outside Daresbury, to enable Scott and himself to do trouble-shooting without having to travel to Daresbury. Both RAL and Daresbury are currently establishing new Internet security precedures, so care is needed! Action ------ Derrick to construct second cosmic trigger system and to investigate purchase of CAEN. Graham H to get IP number for connection in clean room, and to check accessibility from outside DL (copy mails to Dave so technical questions can be answered). Dave and Scott to organise setting up DAQ system 2) Review of progress with pins, crimping and planar construction ================================================================= (Graham H) Graham first explained the situation w.r.t. crimping. Ray Thompson has outlined the tests done in the design of the crimp tools for the construction of the original planars. This consisted of establishing approximately where the crimping force was too small (the wire slipped through the crimp) and where it was too large (the wire tended to break at the crimp) and working halfway between the two. We shall follow a similar procedure. It was suggested that there be continuous monitoring of the performance of the crimp tools, as these may suffer from wear. A first sugestion was that, after the wiring of each cell, a test crimp should be done and the load on the wire increased to well above the nominal tension to check that no slippage occurs. Exactly how this is to be done needs to be discussed with Gary. Further tests require more pins and, quelle surprise (OK, I can't speak French) Medelec have yet to deliver... At Daresbury we currently have a wiring jig, a tensioning jig and a tension test rig. The latter needs a new magnet as the field at the wires furthest from the magnet is not high enough with the current device. Graham also mentioned some evidence suggesting that the second harmonic was being excited in some cases, leading to false results. It was suggested that changing the position of the magnet might help. We will need to duplicate at least the wiring and tensioning jigs to enable us to work on two chambers in parallel. Graham also described tests of the bonding procedure. Derek Morrow's help is to be enlisted in picking the right resins for the job, etc. We have to ensure that the bonds are of sufficient strength, but also that the resin doesn't drip through into the chamber. Further samples of the Nomex panel would be useful for these tests. Action ------ Gary/Graham H Check crimp tools when new pins available and work out procedure for monitoring for wear. Graham H Buy new magnet and keep on at Medelec until more pins delivered! Gary Continue work on bonding 4) Review of situation w.r.t. software ====================================== (Girish, Rob, Terry, Dave, Steve Maxfield, Tim) There was an extended discussion on how best to organise the next steps in producing simulation and reconstruction software for the new FT. It was agreed that we should pursue essentially the same philosophy as used in the current FT, with the probable exception of the linking procedures, but that new avenues should be explored in parallel. This should ensure that we have a system that functions well by the required time, but leave open the possibility of improvements if new approaches can provide these. Some possible new appoaches were discussed. It was pointed out that we will need simulations with planars plus radials in the FT and with an all planar system. One of the parameters that has yet to be optimised is the placing and orientation of the planars which replace the radials, if this is what we choose to do. Action ------ Girish to implement new bank names (we have to use `v' not `q' because of H1phan), to get new FTsim into offical H1sim release and to get FTsim running at Lancaster. Rob to start work on new segment finding. John/Tim to organise meeting in Lancaster, to which Eram Rizvi will be invited, at which current software will be reviewed and possible developments discussed. We were happy to see Rob back after a break due to illness and wish him all the best for his continuing recovery! Next Meeting ------------ 11/5/99 at DESY. Book accommodation early!