PEARL Instrument Details - ISISComputingGroup/ibex_developers_manual GitHub Wiki

This page collects information that will be useful for the implementation of the IBEX control system on PEARL.

Background & Timeline

PEARL is a powder diffraction instrument on TS1 at ISIS, dedicated to high-pressure studies. The PEARL web page describes the background to the instrument.

PEARL networking

PEARL has a slightly complicated networking situation, where they have some patch panels that propagate through to next to their sample prep/setup cabin.

To summarise:

Ports SC0-SC10 are patched through to the top patch panel in the setup cabin. SC6-9 are actually on the outside wall of the setup cabin, near where their vacuum tanks live. W269-272 should patch from the setup cabin to the patch panel at the back of the main cabin.

Galils, choppers etc are fed through DS31-DS35 which lives in the little server room down the stairs.

There is a large patch panel in the main PEARL cabin which links to the blockhouse ports, sat above some Eurotherm racks. The confusing bit - there are also ports that live outside the setup cabin, on the left side above the beamline itself. Ports 1-5 here ALSO route through to the large rack-mounted patch panel which lives in the main cabin. For example, port 3 outside the setup cabin, commonly used for the PACE 5000 pressure controller, routes to port 3 on the large patch panel (in the rack in the PEARL cabin). This is then fed to the Moxa which is sat above. Each of the ports on the large patch panel have a code that looks like 9MC4180 which means nothing to us - we only care about the patch panel number which is underneath.

Control System

PEARL will migrate from the SECI control system to the IBEX control system.

PEARL Equipment

The equipment listed below is used on PEARL. Please add new information (e.g. new items of equipment, new notes, information about drivers, etc. to this table).

Manufacturer Model Type Connection Driver Notes
ISIS DAE 2 Detector Electronics Ethernet see DAE note
ISIS Mk3 Chopper Chopper Ethernet/.NET #169 see Mk3 Chopper note
GALIL DMC2280 Motion Controller Ethernet EPICS see Galil note
LINMOT P0x-23 Linear Motors and Motion Controller RS-232 #2098 see LinMot note
??? ??? 1 x 4-blade jaws see Jaws note
Pfeiffer TPG300 ISIS Vacuum System RS232 #216 see Pfeiffer note
Eurotherm Temperature Controller All models at ISIS RS-232 EPICS see Eurotherm note
LakeShore 336 Temperature Controller RS-232 EPICS see LakeShore note
Oxford Instruments ITC503 Cryogenic System see Oxford Instruments note
Sorensen High-PT PSU see Sorensen note
Pace 5000 Pressure Controller RS-232 see Pace note
ISIS PEARL Pressure Cell Controller see Pressure Cell Controller note
ISIS PEARL MMP 200 or 210 Pressure Transducer see PEARL Pressure Transducer note
ISIS PEARL Temperature Controller see PEARL Temperature Controller note
ISIS ??? Cold Valve see Cold Valve note
Note: DAE

Main Detector banks + one working fixed monitor upstream of sample position.

Note: Galil

PEARL uses Galil controllers.

Note: LinMot

PEARL uses LinMot P0x-23 motors, controlled by LinMot drives. LinMot User Manual

  1. Alignment Mirror: Driven either IN or OUT by a single LinMot axis.
  2. Also jaw sets mentioned below
Note: Jaws
  1. Two sets of jaws are driven by LinMot P0x-23 motors...
  2. ... and one by Galil
  3. PEARL has custom screens for controlling the jaws
    • See C:\LabVIEW Modules\Instruments\PEARL\PEARL Jaws\Screens
Note: ISIS Mk3 Choppers

PEARL has two ISIS Mk3 choppers.

Note: Pfeiffer
  1. Model TPG 26x, used on the furnace vacuum system
  2. Model TPG 300, used on the tank/guide vacuum system
Note: Eurotherm

Three Eurotherms in use on PEARL. Used to control temperature of all top-loading CCR/ He-cryostats and furnaces.

Note: LakeShore
  1. Model 336:

There are EPICS drivers for a variety of Lakeshore temperature controllers. Documentation on the Lakeshore 336 IOC setup can be found here.

Note: Sorensen

Sorensen appear to have been taken over by AMETEK.

  1. VI for Sorensen PSU is here: C:\LabVIEW Modules\Instruments\PEARL\PEARL High-PT PSU Controller
Note: Oxford Instruments
  1. Support for OI ITC503 created as part of #2593
  2. No longer used on PEARL.
Note: Pace

PACE appear to have been taken over by Baker Hughes Digital Solutions - specifically, Baker Hughes Druck subsidiary.

  1. Pace 5000 Pneumatic Modular Pressure Controller
  2. Documentation: \\isis\shares\ISIS_Experiment_Controls\PACE5000 Pressure Controller
  3. VI for Pace 5000 is located here: C:\LabVIEW Modules\Drivers\PACE 5000
Note: PEARL Pressure Transducer
  1. VI for PEARL Pressure Transducer is here: C:\LabVIEW Modules\Instruments\PEARL\PEARL Pressure Transducer
  2. MMP 200/210 device is no longer used on PEARL
  3. Superseded by M905 (currently connected to Pressure Cell Controller, but would like to be read independently in other experiments)
Note: Pressure Cell Controller
  1. Pressure Controller Repositories
  1. VI for PEARL Pressure Cell Controller is here: C:\LabVIEW Modules\Instruments\PEARL\PEARL Pressure Cell Controller
Note: PEARL Temperature Controller
  1. Based on a NI cDAQ 9181 device using 9213 Thermocouple module.
  2. VI for PEARL Temperature Controller is here: C:\LabVIEW Modules\Instruments\PEARL\PEARL Temperature
Note: Cold Valve
  1. The PEARL ColdValve is a motor driven needle valve that controls the flow of liquid nitrogen through their press. The motor is driven by a standard Mclennan drive crate.
  2. VI for the ISIS Cold Valve is located here: C:\LabVIEW Modules\Drivers\ISIS Cold Valve
  3. They current model will (at some point in the future) be replaced by a new one which the Cryogenics team are making. Both the old and new models will use the same controller.
  4. For the avoidance of doubt, the PEARL ColdValve is entirely unrelated to the IRIS CryoValve.
Note: Camera

PEARL's camera is a blackfly model which we communicate with through the areaDetector module. There is a generic "webcam" device screen which needs to be set up for this pointing at the PEARLCAM_01 IOC which lets them start acquiring image data with region of interest functionality.

PEARL Notes

PEARL has the following specialist panels:

  1. PEARL Sample Alignment
    • This is a method to move the sample into position, using 'nudges' rather than setpoints
    • see C:\LabVIEW Modules\Instruments\PEARL\PEARL Alignment
  2. PEARL Jaws & Beam Dimensions
    • PEARL Beam dimensions.vi (controls all jaw sets 1x Galil & 2x LinMot)

Compare with similar systems on GEM and POLARIS.

PEARL has the following devices under motion control:

  1. Jaws
    • see C:\LabVIEW Modules\Instruments\PEARL\PEARL Jaws\Screens
  2. Rotation stage
  3. XYZ stage
  4. Diamond Anvil Cell(DAC): uses XYZ stage, rotation stage. All driven by Galil.

This is a weird Servostep box which contains a Galil 4000 series inside. It looks like this:

IMG_5182-1

Compare with similar systems on GEM and POLARIS.

There are some inaccessible front end jaws on PEARL controlled by the Galil, these are not used but must be kept open for operation. They are homed to the forward limit and seem to typically be kept about 4/5mm inside that position for running. This should be kept in mind when migrating the Galil.

PEARL SECI Configs

Document information about PEARL SECI configs here.

Configuration Name Sub-Configurations Last Accessed Required
PEARL_place_holder1.conf - dd/mm/yyyy -
PEARL_place_holder2.conf - dd/mm/yyyy -

PEARL Genie Scripts

Similarly, Document information about PEARL SECI Genie scripts here.