Design Of Beam Loss Monitoring System For Heavy Ion Accelerator Based On Embedded EPICS

Heavy ion accelerators are large scientific devices that use electrical energy to accelerate particles heavier than helium nuclei.With the development of accelerator technology,the power of the new generation of heavy ion accelerators is higher,with significant improvements in energy and current intensity.Currently,the new High Intensity Heavy ion Accelerator Facility(HIAF)project has been under construction in Huizhou City in full swing in order to reach the world’s leading level.How to maintain long-term stable and reliable operation of accelerators is a key research area.Among them,beam loss is an inevitable phenomenon accompanying the operation of the accelerator.Even the loss of low energy beams can cause damage to the materials of the accelerator and have an impact on the health of relevant experimental personnel.Therefore,it is necessary to detect beam loss at specific nodes of high current heavy ion accelerators,which is also one of the important research directions in the field of accelerator machine protection.With the development of the times,the monitoring of beam loss is also developing towards automation and intelligence.The new beam loss monitoring system not only includes equipment for beam loss detectors,but also includes functions such as a signal processing system that further processes beam loss signals and presents as much information as possible to laboratory personnel through a visual interface,as well as a control system that remotely controls the operation of the beam loss monitoring system.The beam loss monitoring system can greatly facilitate the experiments of staff and the maintenance of high current heavy ion accelerators.When the beam loss intensity exceeds the standard range,a timely warning or alarm is issued to remind staff to handle it.The intelligent processing of beam loss signals is generally accomplished through the combination of hardware and software through corresponding electronic devices,and is remotely transmitted to the central control room through the network.Common accelerator control software systems include TANGO and EPICS.EPICS is developed by American laboratories and widely used in accelerator control systems in the United States.Based on the beam loss monitoring requirements of the high intensity heavy ion accelerator HIAF and Lanzhou heavy ion accelerator,this paper designs and implements a self developed electronic control system that can monitor the beam loss of the system in real time.The entire beam loss monitoring system consists of a beam loss detector,front-end electronics,self developed electronics for beam loss monitoring,and a server-side graphical user interface.The functions of the beam loss monitoring system in this paper mainly include a data acquisition system,a signal lamp alarm system,and a counting/integrating interlocking system.The data acquisition system is mainly used for real-time monitoring of the original signal image of beam loss.The signal lamp alarm system is used to send an alarm signal when the beam loss intensity exceeds the standard,and timely remind the staff to handle it.The counting/integrating interlocking system is used to capture and lock the image when the beam loss signal exceeds the standard,providing information reference for experimental personnel.Self developed electronics uses the ZYNQ series chips from Xilinx Corporation,which are composed of hardware,underlying FPGA logic,upper embedded operating system,software,and a graphical user interface for the upper computer.Network Time Protocol(NTP)is applied to achieve time synchronization.Finally,the beam loss monitoring system was deployed on the main ring of the cooling storage ring of the Lanzhou Heavy Ion Accelerator for testing.After testing,the system successfully realizes the function of displaying the original signal of beam loss in real time,and meets the requirements of real-time,stability,and long-term reliability.At the same time,when the beam loss intensity exceeds the limit,the signal lamp on the operation interface can send an alarm signal to the beam loss detector at the determined position,greatly facilitating the operation and maintenance of the accelerator system.The system has the advantages of low cost,easy expansion,and high reliability.It integrates large-scale real-time data collection,alarm,and graphical user interface,laying the foundation for the intelligent monitoring system of heavy ion accelerator beam loss,and providing a certain technical reference for the construction of a new generation of high intensity heavy ion accelerator HIAF.