TP-1 Osaka maglev controller  [  model TCO10M,  ser V3F04J07 ]  needs maintenance. Alarm led  on indicating  that we need Lv2 service.

The turbo and the controller are in good working order.

*****************************

Hi Steve,

Our maintenance level 2 service price is $...... It consists of a complete disassembly of the controller for internal cleaning of all ICB’s, replacement of all main board capacitors, replacement of all internal cooling units, ROM battery replacement, re-assembly, and mandatory final testing to make sure it meets our factory specifications. Turnaround time is approximately 3 weeks.

  RMA 5686 has been assigned to Caltech’s returning TC010M controller. Attached please find our RMA forms. Complete and return them to us via email, along with your PO, prior to shipping the cont

Best regards,

Pedro Gutierrez

Osaka Vacuum USA, Inc.

510-770-0100 x 109

*************************************************

our TP-1 TG390MCAB is 9 years old. What is the life expectancy of this turbo?

                        The Osaka maglev turbopumps are designed with a 100,000 hours(or ~ 10 operating years) life span but as you know most of our end-users are

                        running their Osaka maglev turbopumps in excess of 10+, 15+ years continuously.     The 100,000 hours design value is based upon the AL material being rotated at

                        the given speed.   But the design fudge factor have somehow elongated the practical life span.  

We should have the cost of new maglev & controller in next year budget. I  put the quote into the wiki.

Steve pointed out that some of the vacuum MEDM screen fields were reporting "NO COMM". Koji confirmed that this is a c1vac1 problem, likely the same as reported here and can be fixed using the same procedure.

However, Steve is worried that the interlock won't kick in in case of a vacuum emergency, so we are leaving the PSL shutter closed over the weekend. The problem will be revisited on Monday.

[steve, gautam]

Following the procedure in this elog, we effected a reset of the vacuum slow machines. Usually, I just turn the key on these crates to do a power cycle, but Steve pointed out that for the vacuum machines, we should only push the "reset" button.

While TP1 was spun down, we took the opportunity to replace the TP1 controller with a spare unit the company has sent us for use while our unit is sent to them for maintenance. The procedure was in principle simple (I only list the additional ones, for the various valve closures, see the slow machine reset procedure elog):

• Turn power off using switch on rear.
• Remove 4 connecting cables on the back.
• Switch controllers.
• Reconnect 4 cables on the back panel.
• Turn power back on using switch on rear.

However, we were foiled by a Philips screw on the DB37 connector labelled "MAG BRG", which had all its head worn out. We had to make a cut in this screw using a saw blade, and use a "-" screwdriver to get this troublesome screw out. Steve suspects this is a metric gauge screw, and will request the company to send us a new one, we will replace it when re-installing the maintaiend controller. 

Attachments #1 and #2 show the Vacuum MEDM screen before and after the reboot respectively - evidently, the fields that were reading "NO COMM" now read numbers. Attachment #3 shows the main volume pressure during this work.

Precondition: c1vac1 & c1vac2 all LED warning lights green [ atm3 ], the only error message is in the gauge readings NO COMM, dataviewer will plot zero [ atm1 ], valves are operational

When our vacuum gauges read " NO COMM " than our INTERLOCKS  do  NOT communicate either.

So V1 gate valve and PSL output shutter can not be triggered to close if the the IFO pressure goes up.                        

   [ only CC1_HORNET_PRESSURE reading is working in this condition because it goes to a different compuer ] 

Gautam and Steve,

Our TP3 drypump seal is at 360 mT [0.25A load on small turbo]  after one year.  We tried to swap in old spare drypump with new tip  seal. It was blowing it's fuse, so we could not do it.

Noisy aux drypump turned on and opened to TP3 foreline [ two drypumps are in  the foreline now ]  The pressure is 48 mT and 0.17A load on small turbo.

We want to measure the pressure gradient in the 40m IFO

Our old MKS cold cathodes are out of order. The existing working gauge at the pumpspool is InstruTech CCM501

The plan is to purchase 3 new gauges for ETMY, BS and MC2 location.

Basic cold cathode     or    Bayard-Alpert Pirani

Steve & Bob,

Bob removed the head cover from the housing to inspect the condition of the the tip seal. The tip seal was fine but the viton cover seal had a bad hump. This misaligned the tip seal and it did not allow it to rotate.

It was repositioned an carefully tithened. It worked. It's starting current transiant measured 28 A and operational mode 3.5 A

This load is normal with an old pump. See the brand new DIP7 drypump as spare was 25 A at start and  3.1 A in operational mode. It is amazing how much punishment a slow blow ceramic 10A  fuse can take [ 0215010.HXP ]

In the future one should measure the current pick up [ transient <100ms ] after the the seal change with Fluke 330 Series Current Clamp

It was swapped in and the foreline pressure dropped to 24 mTorr after 4 hours. It is very good. TP3 rotational drive current  0.15 A at 50K rpm   24C

Gautam & Steve,

Our controller is back with Osaka maintenace completed. We swapped it in this morning.

Steve reported to me that the CC1 Hornet gauge was not reporting the IFO pressure after some cable tracing at EX. I found that the power to the unit had been accidentally disconnected. I re-connected the power and manually turned on the HV on the CC gauge (perhaps this can be automated in the new vacuum paradigm). IFO pressure of 8e-6 torr is being reported now.

Jon and I stuck a extender card into the eurocrate at 1X8 earlier today (~5pm PT), to see if the box was getting +24V DC from the Sorensen or not. Upon sticking the card in, the FAIL LEDs on all the VME cards came on. We immediately removed the extender card. Without any intervention from us, after ~1 minute, the FAIL LEDs went off again. Judging by the main volume pressure (Attachment #1) and the Vacuum MEDM screen (Attachment #2), this did not create any issues and the c1vac1 computer is still responsive.

But Steve can perhaps run a check in the AM to confirm that this activity didn't break anything.

Is there a reason why extender cards shouldn't be stuck into eurocrates?

The vacuum and MC are OK

The 40m vacuum envelope has one large single O-ring on the OOC west side. All other doors have double O-ring with annuloses.

There are 3  spacers to protect o-ring. They should not be removed!

The Cryo-pump static seal to VC1 also viton. All gate valves and right angle valve plates have single viton o-ring seal.

Small single viton o-rings on all optical quality viewports.

Helium will permiate through these fast. Leak checking time is limited to 5-10 minutes.

All other seals are copper gaskits. We have 2 manual right angle with METAL-dynamic seal [ VATRING ] as  VV1 & RV1

Notes on the ion pumps and cryo pump:

• Our 4 ion pumps were closed off for a lomg time. I estmated their pressure to be around ~1 Torr. After talking with Koji we decided not to vent them.

• It'd be still useful to wire their position sensors. But make sure we do not actuate the valves. 

• The cryo pump was regenerated to 1e-4 Torr about 2 years ago. It's pressure can be ~ 2 Torr with charcoal powder. It is a dirty system at room temperature.

• Do not actuate VC1 and VC2, and keep its manual valve closed.

• IF someone feels we should vent them for some reason, let us know here in the elog before Monday morning.

Vent 80 is nearly complete; the instrument is almost to atmosphere.  All four ion pump gate valves have been disconnected, though the position sensors are still connected,and all annulus valves are open.  The controllers of TP1 and TP3 have been disconnected from AC power. VC1 and VC2 have been disconnected and must remained closed. Currently, the RGA is being vented through the needle valve and the RGA had been shut off at the beginning of the vent preparations.  VM1 and VM3 could not be actuated.  The condition status is still listed as Unidentified because of the disconnected valves. 

Gautam, Aaron, Chub and Steve,

The vent 81 is completed.

4 ion pumps and cryo pump are at ~ 1-4 Torr (estimated as we have no gauges there), all other parts of the vacuum envelope are at atm. P2 & P3 gauges are out of order.

V1 and VM1 are in a locked state. We suspect this is because of some interlock logic.

TP1 and TP3 controllers are turned off.

Valve conditions as  shown: ready to be opened or closed or moved or rewired. To re-iterate: VC1, VC2, and the Ion Pump valves shouldn't be re-connected during the vac upgrade.

Thanks for all of your help.

As I was turning off the lights in the VEA, I heard a rattling sound from near the PSL enclosure. I followed it to a valve - I couldn't see a label on this valve in my brief effort to find one, but it is on the south-west corner of the IMC table, so maybe VABSSCI or VABSSCO? The power cable is somehow spliced with an attachment that looks to be bringing gas in/out of the valve (See Attachment #1), and the nut on the bottom was loose, the whole power cable + mettal attachment was responsible for the rattling. I finger-tightened the nut and the sound went away.

I checked the IMC alignment following the vent, for which the manual beam block placed on the PSL table was removed. The alignment is okay, after minor touchup, the MC Trans was ~1200 cts which is roughly what it was pre-vent. I've closed the PSL shutter again.

Gautam, Aaron, Chub & Steve,

ETMY heavy door replaced by light one.

We did the following:  measured 950 particles/cf min of 0.5 micron at SP table, wiped crane and it's cable, wiped chamber,

                                placed heavy door on clean merostate covered stand, dry wiped o-rings and isopropanol wiped Aluminum light cover

Chub & Steve,

We swapped in our  replacement of Varian V70D "bear-can" turbo as factory clean.

The new Agilent TwisTorr 84 FS  turbo pump [ model x3502-64002,  sn IT17346059 ]  with intake screen, fan, vent valve. The controller  [ model 3508-64001, sn IT1737C383 ] and a larger drypump IDP-7,  [ model x3807-64010, sn MY17170019 ] was installed.

Next things to do:

1. implement hardware interlock to close V4 at 80% pumping speed slowdown of "standby" rotation speed, estimated to be ~ 40,000 RPM ( when Standby 50K RPM  )
2. set up isolation valve in the foreline of TP2, with delayed start of the IDP-7 and/or use relay to power drypump.  This turbo controller can not switch off or start of the dry pump. [ Agilent isolation valve #X3202-60055, with position indicator, pneumatic actuation, 115V solenoid ]..........as a second thought, we do not need isolation valve if we go with the relay option. The IDP-7 has built in delay of 10-15 sec
3. test performance of new turbo

We still need elaborated test procedure posted

12/29 Wed

• Jon continues to work on valve actuator tests.
• Chub continues to work on wiring / fixing wiring.
• At the end of the day Jon is going to send out a notification email of "GO"/"NO GO" for pumping.

12/30 Thu

• 9AM: Start closing two doors unless Jon gives us NO GO sign.
• 10AM: Start pumping down
  • Test roughing pump capability via new control system
  • (Independently) Test turbo rotating procedure. This time we will not open the gate valve between the TP1 and the main volume. This is because we want to take care of the backing turbo loads while we gradually open the gate valve. This will take more hours to be done and we will not be able to finish this test by the end of Thu.
  • At the end of the procedure, we isolate the main volume, stop all the pumps, and vent the roghing pumps to save them from the oil backstream.

gautam: Koji and I were just staring at the vacuum screen, and realized that the drypumps, which are the backing pumps for TP2 and TP3, are not reflected on the MEDM screen. This should be rectified.

Steve also mentioned that the new small turbo controller does not directly interface with the drypump. So we need some system to delay the starting of the turbo itself, once the drypump has been engaged. Does this system exist?

I just spoke to Jon who asked me to make this elog - we will be ready to test one or more parts of the pumpdown procedure tomorrow (12/20), so we should proceed as planned to put the heavy doors back on EY and OMC chambers at 9am tomorrow morning. Jon will circulate a more detailed procedure about the pumpdown steps later today evening.

Linked is the pumpdown procedure, contained in the old 40m documentation. The relevant procedure is "All Off --> Vacuum Normal" on page 11.

[Chub, Koji, Gautam]

We replaced the EY and IOO chamber heavy doors by 10:10 am PST. Torquing was done first oen round at 25 ft-lb, next at 45 ft-lb (we trust the calibration on the torque wrench, but how reliable is this? And how important are these numbers in ensuring a smooth pumpdown?). All went smooth. The interior of the IOO chamber was found to be dirty when Koji ran a wipe along some surfaces.

For this pumpdown, we aren't so concerned with having the IFO in an operating state as we will certainly vent it again early next year. So we didn't follow the full close-up checklist.

Jon and Chub and Koji are working on starting the pumpdown now... In order to not have to wear laser safety goggles while we closed doors and pumped down, I turned off all the 1064nm lasers in the lab.

Per the discussion yesterday, I valved off the N2 line in the drill press room at 11 am PST today morning so as to avoid any accidental software induced gate-valve actuation during the holidays. The line pressure is steadily dropping...

Attachment #1 shows that while the main volume pressure was stable overnight, the the pumpspool pressure has been steadily rising. I think this is to be expected as the turbo pumps aren't running and the valves can't preserve the <1mtorr pressure over long timescales?

Attachment #2 shows the current VacOverview MEDM screen status.

Independent question: Are all the turbo forelines vented automatically? We manually did it for the main roughing line.

Larry W came by the 40m, and reported that there was a campus-wide power glitch (he was here to check if our networking infrastructure was affected). I thought I'd check the status of the vacuum.

• Attachment #1 is a screenshot of the Vac overview MEDM screen. Clearly something has gone wrong with the modbus process(es). Only the PTP2 and PTP3 gauges seem to be communicative.
• Attachment #2 shows the minute trend of the pressure gauges for a 12 day period - it looks like there is some issue with the frame builder clock, perhaps this issue resurfaced? But checking the system time on FB doesn't suggest anything is wrong.. I double checked with dataviewer as well that the trends don't exist... But checking the status of the individual daqd processes indeed showed that the dates were off by 1 year, so I just restarted all of them and now the time seems correct. How can we fix this problem more permanently? Also, the P1b readout looks suspicious - why are there periods where it seems like we are reading values better than the LSB of the device?

I decided to check the systemctl process status on c1vac:

So something did happen today that required restart of the modbus processes. But clearly not everything has come back up gracefully. A few lines of dmesg (there are many more segfaults):

I don't know enough about the new system so I'm leaving this for Jon to debug. Attachment #3 shows that the analog readout of the P1 pressure gauge suggests that the IFO is still under vacuum, so no random valve openings were effected (as expected, since we valved off the N2 line for this very purpose).

Yes, for TP2 and TP3. They both have a small vent valve that opens automatically on shutdown.

Looks like I didn't restart all the daqd processes last night, so the data was not in fact being recorded to frames. I just restarted everything, and looks like the data for the last 3 minutes are being recorded . Is it reasonable that the TP1 current channel is reporting 0.75A of current draw now, when the pump is off? Also the temperature readback of TP3 seems a lot jumpier than that of TP2, probably has to do with the old controller having fewer ADC bits or something, but perhaps the SMOO needs to be adjusted.

[Jon, Koji, Chub, Gautam]

Summary

The second pumpdown with the new vacuum system was completed successfully today. A time history is attached below.

We started with the main volume still at 12 torr from the Dec. pumpdown. Roughing from 12 to 0.5 torr took approximately two hours, at which point we valved out RP1 and RP3 and valved in TP1 backed by TP2 and TP3. We additionally used the AUX dry pump connected to the backing lines of TP2 and TP3, which we found to boost the overall pump rate by a factor of ~3. The manual hand-crank valve directly in front of TP1 was used to throttle the pump rate, to avoid tripping software interlocks. If the crank valve is opened too quickly, the pressure differential between the main volume (TP1 intake) and TP1 exhaust becomes >1 torr, tripping the V1 valve-close interlock. Once the main volume pressure reached 1e-2 torr, the crank valve could be opened fully.

We allowed the pumpdown to continue until reaching 9e-4 torr in the main volume. At this point we valved off the main volume, valved off TP2 and TP3, and then shut down all turbo pumps/dry pumps. We will continue pumping tomorrow under the supervision of an operator. If the system continues to perform problem-free, we will likely leave the turbos pumping on the main volume and annuli after tomorrow.

New Vac Control Station

We installed a local controls terminal for the vacuum system on the desk in front of the vacuum rack (pictured below). This console is connected directly to c1vac and can be used to monitor/control the system even during a network outage or power failure. The entire pumpdown was run from this station today.

To open a controls MEDM screen, open a terminal and execute the alias

Similarly, to open a monitor-only MEDM screen, execute the alias

Overnight, the pressure increased from 247 uTorr to 264 uTorr over a period of 30000 seconds. Assuming an IFO volume of 33,000 liters, this corresponds to an average leak rate of ~20 uTorr L / s. It'd be interesting to see how this compares with the spec'd leak rates of the Viton O-ring seals and valves/ outgassing rates. The two channels in the screenshot are monitoring the same pressure from the same sensor, top pane is a digital readout while the bottom is a calibrated analog readout that is subsequently digitized into the CDS system.

Connected the manual gate valve status indicator to the Acromag box this morning.  Labeled the temporary cable (a 50' 9p DSUB, will order a proper sized cable shortly) and the panel RV2.  

[Jon, Gautam, Chub]

Summary

We continued the pumpdown of the IFO today. The main volume pressure has reached 1.9e-5 torr and is continuing to fall. The system has performed without issue all day, so we'll leave the turbos continuously running from here on in the normal pumping configuration. Both TP2 and TP3 are currently backing for TP1. Once the main volume reaches operating pressure, we can transition TP3 to pump the annuli. They have already been roughed to ~0.1 torr. At that point the speed of all three turbo pumps can also be reduced. I've finished final edits/cleanup of the interlock code and MEDM screens.

Python Code

All the python code running on c1vac is archived to the git repo: 

https://git.ligo.org/40m/vacpython

This includes both the interlock code and the serial device clients for interfacing with gauges and pumps.

MEDM Monitor/Control

We're still using the same base MEDM monitor/control screens, but they have been much improved. Improvements:

• Valves now light up in red when they are open. This makes it much easier to see at a glance what is valved in/out.
• Every pump in the system (except CP1) is now digitally controlled from the MEDM control screen. No more need to physically push any buttons in the vaccum rack. 👍
• The turbo pumps now show additional diagnostic readouts: speed (TP1/2/3), temperature (TP2/3), current draw (TP1/2/3), and voltage (TP2/3).
• The foreline pressure gauge readouts for TP2/3 have been added to the digital system.
• The two new main volume gauges, Hornet and SuperBee, have been added to the digital system as well.
• New transducers have been added to read back the two N2 tank pressures.
• The interlock code generates a log file of all its actions. A field in the MEDM screens specifies the location of the log file.
• A tripped interlock (appearing as a message in the "Error message" field) must be manually cleared via the "Clear error message" button on the control screen before the system will accept any more manual valve input.

Note: The apparent glitches in the pressure and TP diagnostic channels are due to the interlock system being taken down to implement some of these changes.

[chub, gautam]

• IFO pressure was ~2e-4 torr when we started, on account of the interlock code closing all valves because the N2 line pressure dropped below threshold (<65 psi)
• Chub fixed the problem on the regulator in the drill-press area where the N2 tanks are, the N2 line is now at ~75 psi so that we have the ability to actuate valves if we so desire
• We decided that there is no need to vent the pumpspool this time - avoiding an unnecessary turbo landing, so the pumpspool is completely valved off from the main volume and TPs 1-3 are left running
• Went through the pre-vent checklist:
  • Chub measured particle count, deemed it to be okay (I think we should re-locate the particle counter to near 1X8 because that is where the air enters the IFO anyways, and that way, we can hook it up to the serial device server and have a computerized record of this number as we had in the past, instead of writing it down in a notebook)
  • Checked that the PSL was manually blocked from entering the IFO
  • Walked through the lab, visually inspected Jam Nuts and window covers, all was deemed okay
• Moved 2 tanks of N2 into the lab on account of the rain
• Started the vent at ~930am PST
  • There were a couple of short bursty increases in the pressure as we figured out the right valve settings but on average, things are rising at approx the same rate as we had in vent 81...
  • There was a rattling noise coming from the drypump that is the forepump for TP2 (Agilent) - turned out to be the plastic shell/casing on the drypump, moreover, the TP2 diagnostics (temperature, current etc) are all normal.
  • The CC1 gauge (Hornet) is supposed to have an auto-shutoff of its High Voltage when the pressure exceeds 10 mTorr, but it was reporting pressures in the 1 mTorr range even when the adjacent Pirani was at 25 torr. To avoid risk of damage, we manually turned the HV off. There needs to be a python script that can be executed to transition control between the remote and local control modes for the hornet, we had to Power Cycle the gauge because it wouldn't give us local control over the HV.
  • Transitioned from N2 to dry air at P1a=25 torr. We had some trouble finding the correct regulator (left-handed thread) for the dry air cylinders, it was stored in a cabinet labelled green optics
  • Disconnected dry air from VV1 intake once P1b reached 700 torr, to let lab air flow into the IFO and avoid overpressuring.
  • VA* and VAV* valves were opened so as to vent the annuli as we anticipate multiple chamber openings for this vent.

As of 8pm local time, the IFO seems to have equilibriated to atmospheric pressure (I don't hear the hiss of in-rushing air near 1X8 and P1a reports 760 torr). The pumpspool looks healthy and there are no signs in the TP diagnostics channels that anything bad happened to the pumps. Chub is working on getting the N2 setup more robust, we plan to take the EY door off at 9am tomorrow morning with Bob's help.

* I took this opportunity to follow instructions on pg 29 of the manual and set the calibration for the SuperBee pirani gauge to 760 torr so that it is in better agreement with our existing P1a Pirani gauge. The correction was ~8% (820-->760).

Steve came by the lab today, and looked at the status of the upgraded vacuum system. He recommended pumping on the RGA volume, since it has not been pumped on for ~3 months on account of the vacuum upgrade. The procedure (so we may script this operation in the future) was:

1. Start with the pumpspool completely isolated from the main IFO volume.
2. Open V5, pump down the section between V5 and VM3. Keep an eye on PTP3.
3. Open VM3, keep an eye on P4. It was reporting ~10 mtorr, went to "LO".
4. Close VM3 and V5, transition pumping of the RGA volume to TP1 which is backed by TP2 (we had to open V4 as all valves were closed due to an N2 pressure drop event).
5. Open VM2.
6. Watch CC4.

CC4 pressure has been steadily falling. Steve recommends leaving things in this state over the weekend. He recommends also turning the RGA unit on so that the temperature rises and there is a bakeout of the RGA. The temperature may be read off manually using a probe attached to it.

I've attached my handwritten notes covering all the serial communications in the vac system, and the relevant wiring for all the adapters, etc. I'll work with Chub to produce a final documentation, but in the meantime this may be a useful reference.

The N2 ran out this weekend (again no reminder email, but I haven't found the time to setup the Python mailer yet). So all the valves Steve and I had opened, closed (rightly so, that's what the interlocks are supposed to do). Chub will post an elog about the new N2 valve setup in the Drill-press room, but we now have sufficient line pressure in the N2 line again. So Chub and I re-opened the valves to keep pumping on the RGA.

I reset the remote of this git repo to the 40m version instead of Jon's personal one, to ensure consistency between what's on the vacuum machine and in the git repo. There is now a N2 checker python mailer that will email the 40m list if all the tank pressures are below 600 PSI (>12 hours left for someone to react before the main N2 line pressure drops and the interlocks kick in). For now, the script just runs as a cron job every 3 hours, but perhaps we should integrate it with the interlock process?

The pressure of the main volume increased from ~1mtorr to 50mtorr for the past 24 hours (86ksec). This rate is about x1000 of the reported number on Jan 10. Do we suspect vacuum leak?

I looked into this a bit today. Did a walkthrough of the lab, didn't hear any obvious hissing (makes sense, that presumably would signal a much larger leak rate).

Attachment #1: Data from the 30 ksec we had the main vol valved off on Jan 10, but from the gauges we have running right now (the CC gauges have not had their HV enabled yet so we don't have that readback).

Attachment #2: Data from ~150 ksec from Friday night till now.

Interpretation: The number quoted from Jan 10 is from the cold-cathode gauge (~20 utorr increase). In the same period, the Pirani gauge reports a increase of ~5 mtorr (=250x the number reported by the cold-cathode gauge). So which gauge do we trust in this regime more? Additionally, the rate at which the annuli pressures are increasing seem consistent between Jan 10 and now, at ~100 mtorr every 30 ksec.

I don't think this is conclusive, but at least the leak rates between Jan 10 and now don't seem that different for the annuli pressures. Moreover, for the Jan 10 pumpdown, we had the IFO at low pressure for several days over the chirstmas break, which presumably gave time for some outgassing which was cleaned up by the TPs on Jan 10, whereas for this current pumpdown, we don't have that luxury.

Do we want to do a systematic leak check before resuming the pumpdown on Monday? The main differences in vacuum I can think of are

1. Two pieces of Kapton tape are now in the EY chamber.
2. Possible resiudue from cleaning solvents in IY and EY chambers are still outgassing.

This entry by Steve says that the "expected" outgassing rate is 3-5 mtorr per day, which doesn't match either the current observation or that from Jan 10.

We can pump down (or vent) annuli. If this is the leak between the main volume and the annuli, we will be able to see the effect on the leak rate. If this is the leak of an  outer o-ring, again pumping down (or venting) of the annuli should temporarily decrease (or increase) the leak rate..., I guess. If the leak rate is not dependent on the pressure of the annuli, we can conclude that it is internal outgassing.

[koji, gautam]

As planned, we valved off the main volume and the annuli from the turbo-pumps at ~730 PM PST. At this time, the main volume pressure was 30 uTorr. It started rising at a rate of ~200 uTorr/hr, which translates to ~5 mtorr/day, which is in the ballpark of what Steve said is "normal". However, the calibration of the Hornet gauge seems to be piecewise-linear (see Attachment #1), so we will have to observe overnight to get a better handle on this number.

We decided to vent the IY and EY chamber annular volumes, and check if this made anu dramatic changes in the main volume pressure increase rate, presumably signalling a leak from the outside. However, we saw no such increase - so right now, the working hypothesis is still that the main volume pressure increase is being driven by outgassing of something from the vacuum.

Let's leave things in this state overnight - V1 and V5 closed so that neither the main volume nor the annuli are being pumped, and get some baseline numbers for what the outgassing rate is.

I guess we forgot to close V5, so we were indeed pumping on the ITMY and ETMY annuli, but the other three were isolated suggest a leak rate of ~200-300 mtorr/day, see Attachment #1 (consistent with my earlier post).

As for the main volume - according to CC1, the pressure saturates at ~250 uTorr and is stable, while the Pirani P1a reports ~100x that pressure. I guess the cold-cathode gauge is supposed to be more accurate at low pressures, but how well do we believe the calibration on either gauge? Either ways, based on last night's test (see Attachment #2), we can set an upper limit of 12 mtorr/day. This is 2-3x the number Steve said is normal, but perhaps this is down to the fact that the outgassing from the main volume is higher immediately after a vent and in-chamber work. It is also 5x lower rate of pressure increase than what was observed on Feb 2.

I am resuming the pumping down with the turbo-pumps, let's see how long we take to get down to the nominal operating pressure of 8e-6 torr, it ususally takes ~ 1 week. V1, VASV, VASE and VABS were opened at 1030am PST. Per Chub's request (see #14435), I ran RP1 and RP3 for ~30 seconds, he will check if the oil level has changed.

Pumpdown looks healthy, so I'm leaving the TPs on overnight. At some point, we should probably get the RGA going again. I don't know that we have a "reference" RGA trace that we can compare the scan to, should check with Steve. The high power (1 W) beam has not yet been sent into the vacuum, we should probably add the interlock condition that shuts off the PSL shutter before that.

[chub, steve, gautam]

Steve came by the lab today. He advised us to turn the RGA on again, now that the main volume pressure is < 20 uTorr. I did this by running the RGAset.py script on c0rga - the temperature of the unit was 22C in the morning, after ~3 hours of the filament being turned on, the temperature has already risen to 34 C. Steve says this is normal. We also opened VM1 (I had to edit the interlocks.yaml to allow VM1 to open when CC1 < 20uTorr instead of 10uTorr), so that the RGA volume is exposed to the main volume. So the nightly scans should run now, Steve suggests ignoring the first few while the pumpdown is still reaching nominal pressure. Note that we probably want to migrate all the RGA stuff to the new c1vac machine.

Other notes from Steve:

• RP1 and RP3 should have their oil fully changed (as opposed to just topped up)
• VABSSCI adn VABSSCO are NOT vent valves, they are isolating the annuli of the IOO and OMC chambers from the BS chamber annuli. So next time we vent, we should fix this!
• Leak rate of 3-5 mTorr/day is "normal" once the system has been pumped for a few days. Steve agrees that our observations of the main volume pressure increase is expected, given that we were at atmosphere.
• Regarding the upcoming CES construction
  • Steve recommends keeping the door along the east arm, as it is useful for bringing equipment into the lab (end door access is limited because of end optical tables)
  • Particle counter data logging should be resumed before the construction starts, so that we can monitor if the lab is getting dirtier
• OSEM filters (new ones, i.e. made according to spects in D000209) are in the Clean Cabinet (EX). They are individually packaged in little capsules, see Attachment #1. So the ones I installed were actually a 2002 vintage. We have 50pcs, enough to install new ones on all the core optics + spares.

[rana, gautam]

The full 1 W is again being sent into the IMC. We have left the PBS+HWP combo installed as Rana pointed out that it is good to have polarization control after the PMC but before the EOM. The G&H mirror setup used to route a pickoff of the post-EOM beam along the east edge of the PSL table to the AUX laser beat setup was deemed too flaky and has been bypassed. Centering on the steering mirror and subsequently the IMC REFL photodiode was done using an IR viewer - this technique allows one to geometrically center the beam on the steering mirror and PD, to the resolution of the eye, whereas the voltage maximization technique using the monitor port and an o'scope doesn't allow the former. Nominal IMC transmission of ~15,000 counts has been recovered, and the IMC REFL level is also around 0.12, consistent with the pre-vent levels.

[chub, gautam]

Sumary:

One of the XT1111 units (XT1111a) in the new vacuum system has malfunctioned. So all valves are closed, PSL shutter is also closed, until this is resolved.

Details:

1. Chub alerted me he had changed the main N2 line pressure, but this did not show up in the trend data. In fact, the trend data suggested that all 3 N2 gauges had stopped logging data (they just held the previous value) since sometime on Monday, see Attachment #1.
2. We verified that the gauges were being powered, and that the analog voltage output of the gauges made sense in the drill press room ---> So this suggested something was wrong at the Vacuum rack electronics rack.
3. Went to the vacuum rack, saw no obvious indicator lights signalling a fault.
4. So I restarted the modbus process on c1vac using sudo systemctl restart modbusIOC.service. The way Jon has this setup, this service controls all the sub-processes talking to gauges and TPs, so resatrting this master process should have brought everything back.
5. This tripped the interlock, and all valves got closed.
6. Once the modbus service restarted, most things came back normally. However, V1, V3, V4 and V5 readbacks were listed as "UNDEF".
7. The way the interlock code works, it checks a valve state change request against the monitor channel, so all these valves could not be opened.
8. We confirmed that the valves themselves were operational, by bypassing the itnerlock logic and directly actuating on the valve - but this is not a safe way of running overnight so we decided to shut everything down.
9. We also confirmed that the problem is with one particular Acromag unit - switching the readback Dsub connector to another channel (e.g. V1 --> VM2) showed the expected readback.
10. As a further check - I connected a windows laptop with the Acromag software installed, to the suspected XT1111 - it reported an error message saying "USB device may be damaged". Plugging into another XT111 in the crate, I was able to access the unit in the normal way.
11. The phoenix connector architecture of the Acromags makes it possible to replace this single unit (we have spare XT1111 units) without disturbing the whole system - so barring objections, we plan to do this at 9am tomorrow. The replacement plan is summarized in Attachment #2.

Pressure of the main volume seems to have stabilized - see Attachment #3, so it should be fine to leave the IFO in this state overnight.

Questions:

1. What caused the original failure of the writing to the ADC channels hooked up to the N2 gauges? There isn't any logging setup from the modbus processes afaik.
2. What caused the failure of the XT1111? What is the failure mode even? Because some other channels on the same XT1111 are working...
3. Was it user error? The only operation carried out by me was restarting the modbus services - how did this damage the readback channels for just four valves? I think Chub also re-arranged some wires at the end, but unplugging/re-connecting some cables shouldn't produce this kind of response...

The whole point of the upgrade was to move to a more reliable system - but seems quite flaky already.

I sent Gautam instructions to first try stopping the modbus service, power cycling the Acromag chassis, then restarting the service. I've seen the Acromags go into an unresponsive state after a strong electrical transient or shorted signal wires, and the unit has to be power cycled to be reset.

If this doesn't resolve it, I'll come in tomorrow to help with the Acromag replacement. We have plenty of spares.

The problem encountered with the vac controls was indeed resolved via the recommendation I posted yesterday. The Acromags had gone into a protective state (likely caused by an electrical transient in one of the signals) that could only be cleared by power cycling the units. After resetting the system, the main volume pressure dropped quickly and is now < 2e-5 torr, so normal operations can resume. For future reference, below is the procedure to safely reset these units from a trouble state.

Vacromag Reset Procedure

• TP2 and TP3 can be left running, but isolate them by closing valves V4 and V5.
• TP1 can also be left running, but manually flip the operation mode on the front of the controller from REMOTE to LOCAL. This prevents the pump from receiving a "stop" command when its control Acromag shuts down.
• Close all the pneumatic valves in the system (they'll otherwise close automatically when their control Acromags shut down).
• On c1vac, stop the modbusIOC service. Sometimes this takes ~1 min to actually terminate.
• Turn off the Acromags by flipping the "24 V" on the back of the chassis.
• Wait ~10 sec, then turn them back on.
• Start the modbusIOC service. It may take up to ~1 min for all the readings on the MEDM screen to initialize.
• Ensure that the rotation speed of TP1,2,3 are still all nominal.
• If pumps are OK, open V4, V5, and V7, then open V1. This restores the system to the "Maximum pumping speed" state.
• Flip the TP1 controller operation state back to REMOTE.