[en] Instrument control at ISIS is in the process of migrating from a mainly locally developed system to an EPICS based system. The new control system, called IBEX, was initially used during commissioning of a new instrument prior to a long maintenance shutdown. This first usage has provided valuable feedback and significant progress has been made on enhancing the system during the facility maintenance period in preparation for the move onto production use. Areas that will be of particular interest to scientists in the future will be linking feedback from live data analysis with instrument control and also providing a simple and powerful scripting interface for facility users. In this paper we will cover the architecture and design of the new control system, our choices of technologies, how the system has evolved following initial use, and our plans for moving forward. (author)

[en] The General Universal Powder Diffractometer (GPPD) is one of the three neutron spectrometers during the first phase of China Spallation Neutron Source. It generates radiation during its operation; therefore, a personal protection system is designed to protect the safety of workers. This paper mainly introduces the design principles, control zone division and system architecture of GPPD, and the interlocking PLC system, interlocking key system and interlocking access control system are promoted in detail. In addition, the processes of entering, exiting and clearing the control zones are provided specifically. Finally, the current situations of debugging and operation are summarized. (authors)

[en] Under the EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System) software framework, a prototype vacuum control system was developed for China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS). The interface between vacuum instrumentations (Gauges and Pump controllers) and EPICS is realized using a MOXA embedded industrial computer running embedded Linux system and EPICS system. Interlocking and protection of equipment is realized in YOKOGAWA PLCs, and an embedded Linux controller, on the same base unit as the I/O modules is used to run EPICS system to make the data of PLCs go straight into the EPICS system. Experiment results show that the CSNS prototype vacuum control system has high real-time performance and good stability. (authors)

[en] To help developers create consistent-looking control system application GUIs, the European Spallation Source Integrated Control Systems group asked Cosylab to develop a Style Guide (SG) document. Its purpose is to avoid that GUIs needlessly diverge and make the end-result of all screens combined look harmonious, even if GUIs have been developed over several years by many contributors. Also it will speed up development, by letting developers start from design patterns, rather than starting “from a blank page”. The document defines a set of basic panel sizes, containing a 960px-style grid for consistent organization of content. It also defines a color scheme and font usage, in-line with the overall ESS corporate communications manual, with the addition of signal colors. In addition it shows example screens to serve as GUI design patterns for typical screen types such as engineering screens, control applications and synoptic screens. It concludes by setting rules and recommendations for the usage of automation symbols and display of engineering and physical units. The document is further complemented by a separate document with Usability Guidelines for Human-Machine interfaces. (author)

[en] The China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) ion source control system was developed under the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) software framework, In order to save, retrieve and analyze the historical data of various controlled devices in the CSNS ion source laboratory, a channel archiver based on MySQL was set up. On the basis of brief introduction of the CSNS ion source control system and the channel archiver based on Relational Database (RDB), the hardware and software implementation of the channel archiver based on MySQL for the CSNS ion source laboratory was described in detail. (authors)

[en] Following a feasibility phase which began in 2012, the TS1 upgrade project entered its implementation phase in April 2016. The project is, in essence, a circa £16.25M sustainability project for target station 1 (TS1) of the ISIS facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), which has been in operation since 1984. Its aims are: to secure the future of TS1 and enable it to operate for many more years, to improve flexibility and future upgradability, to make operation of the target station easier, a neutron performance increase of up to a factor of 2 (on some instruments), as well as providing a strong technical foundation on which the facility can continue to build and develop in the coming years.

This paper will provide a summary of the project structure and progress to date, as well as covering some of the encountered challenges and successes. It will further detail the motivations behind the project’s inception, including the critical success factors.

The implementation phase includes design progression, procurement, verification and validation testing, pre-installation testing, along with a large number of other supporting activities. It is currently envisaged that a long operational shutdown of ISIS will occur in a window of 2019-2021, with the project looking to exploit this opportunity for the strip-out, installation and commissioning work required to bring to fruition the planned changes. (paper)

[en] Low-dimensional moderators were designed for the European Spallation Source (ESS), and the same concepts can be applied to compact sources. At ESS, quasi two-dimensional (2D) high-brightness moderators will serve all the instruments of the initial suite. The design of the moderators is influenced by several factors, such as the layout of the facility, the requirements for beam extraction, and the number of instruments; these constraints led to the choice of the 2D 'butterfly' moderator for ESS. In an accelerator-based compact source, such moderators can be designed in an even more efficient way than for high-power sources, taking advantage of the lower heat loads and of the more compact arrangement of the target-moderator system, which gives more freedom in the optimization of the geometrical setup. Some promising design options such as the presence of a pre-moderator or a 2-target configuration have been explored

[en] The planned upgrade for the ISIS Spallation Neutron Source First Target Station requires a complete redesign of the Target, Reflector and Moderator (TRaM) system whilst working within the constraints set by the existing Void Vessel and target station infrastructure. This talk focusses on converting the optimised simulated design for the TS1 project target into a physical reality that will be robust and give a reliable service life equal to or greater than the existing TS1 Target (>5 yrs). ISIS has the advantage of having its own ‘Target Manufacturing Facility’ (TMF). The experience it has gained from manufacturing ISIS current TS1 & TS2 targets has been invaluable in identifying potential manufacturing challenges that must be overcome at the design stage. The Target Design Group (TDG) has worked very closely with the TMF to test design ideas and develop techniques. This has culminated in a target design suitable for manufacture. The target design presented here is a work in progress that has now reached the prototype stage and closely resembles the final product. It is the result of a close collaboration between the Neutronics, Engineering Simulation, Engineering Design and Target Manufacturing Groups. The aim is to deliver a target that can be readily manufactured and is reliable in operation without compromising neutronic efficiency. (paper)

[en] Micro/nanofibers that are created by direct-writing using an electrospinning (ES) technique have aroused much recent attention, owing to their intriguing physical properties and great potential as building blocks for micro/nanoscale devices. In this work, a wavy direct-writing (WDW) process was developed to directly write wavy micro/nanostructures suitable for the fabrication of micro/nanoscale devices. The low voltage WDW technique is anticipated to be useful for a broad range of applications including flexible/stretchable electronics, micro optoelectronics, nano-antennas, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and biomedical engineering. (paper)

[en] As part of the ISIS TS1 project, work has been carried out on the cryogenic hydrogen moderator system, the main focus being understanding and improving the ratio of spin isomers in the liquid hydrogen moderator. (paper)