Modernization of the position control system for the room temperature cyclotron

The ion source and its puller position play an important role in defining the beam starting conditions of the room temperature cyclotron at Variable Energy Cyclotron (VEC) centre. The cyclotron is equipped with two probes to measure beam currents at different radii that aids in tuning and operation. Various geometrical positions of the ion source, puller and probes are possible and to precisely control and monitor these parameters remotely, the position control system plays an important role. To improve the performance of the switching logic, drive the system motors and read the position information of all the parameters, a programmable logic controller (PLC) based position control system is developed and installed replacing the age old system. Ladder program is used as the software platform to develop the control logic with necessary time delays in the drive system. The hardware is based on M340 automation platform having processors with integrated serial link and ethernet TCP/IP port together with a 32 channel isolated digital input module and a 32 channel protected digital output module. The front-end of the user interface of the whole system is kept unaltered in the operating console. The architecture of the new system, transition from the old system and improvements are presented. (author)