A newly designed multichannel scaling system: Validated by Feynman-α experiment in EHWZPR

Highlights: • An embedded measuring system with enhanced operational capabilities is introduced to the scientists. • The design is low cost and reprogrammable. • The system design is dedicated to multi-detector experiments with huge data collection. • Non count loss effect Feynman-α experiment is performed in EHWZPR. • The results is compared with endogenous/inherent pulsed neutron source experiment. - Abstract: In this work, an embedded multi-input multi-million-channel MCS in a newly design is constructed for multi-detector experimental research applications. Important characteristics of the system are possible to be tuned based on experimental case studies utilizing the reprogrammable nature of the silicon. By means of differentiation of the integrated counts registered in memory, this system is featured as a zero channel advance time measuring tool ideal for experiments on time correlated random processes. Using this equipment, Feynman-α experiment is performed in Esfahan Heavy Water Zero Power Reactor (EHWZPR) utilizing three different in-core neutron detectors. One million channel data is collected by the system in 5 ms gate time from each neutron detector simultaneously. As heavy water moderated reactors are significantly slow systems, a huge number of data channels is required to be collected. Then, by making in use of bunching method, the data is analyzed and prompt neutron decay constant of the system is estimated for each neutron detector positioned in the core. The results are compared with the information provided by endogenous pulsed neutron source experiment and a good agreement is seen within the statistical uncertainties of the results. This equipment makes further research in depth possible in a range of stochastic experiments in nuclear physics such as cross correlation analysis of multi-detector experiments.