13-ID-D Large Volume Press Controls
Last updated
Beamline operations are split between MEDM (Motif Editor and Display Manager), the software that physically controls the beamline motors and electronics through EPICS (Experimental Physics Industrial Control System), and IDL (Interactive Data Language), the software which interacts with MEDM to save and process data. You'll need to have both packages running to collect data but only MEDM is needed to move motors, turn on and off MCA, AIM, or HV electronics, etc. We’ll start with MEDM and the MCA program, and then discuss other beamline related IDL routines. In the last section, we’ll talk about the standard procedure to start a new experiment.
1. MEDM
MEDM is an extension of EPICS and is a graphical user interface (GUI) for designing and implementing control screens, called displays, that consist of a collection of graphical objects that display and/or change the values of EPICS process variables. The supported objects include buttons, meters, sliders, text displays/entries, and graphs.
To start MEDM, click on the shortcut “MEDM” on either Miata or Beetle (the two PCs sitting at the 13-ID-D control area).
You’ll
get an MEDM popup window shown on the right, together 
with
the GSECARS Sector 13 Menu window (see left).
The popup will disappear after a few seconds.
There are five buttons related to 13-ID on the GSECARS Sector 13 Menu (left). But let’s start from the third button ID D, which will bring out GSECARS 13-ID-D Station window (right below) for all controls.
Let’s go through each of the 13 items in this window. Click on the each link to find out detailed
description and functions of each item:
Beamline Control: beam
status, equipment protection system (EPS) status, as well as beamline slit
control (in ID-A and ID-D).
Experiment Information: this allows you to enter specific information in a particular run (the info will be saved in the MCA file) and so the info can be saved in to each spectrum file.
DAC Motors: not used.
LVP Motors #1: this is for motor controls for LVP operation.
LVP Motors #2: Motor control for tomography operation – LVP will need to run the tomography CCD camera stage for the imaging setup.
MCA electronics: electronics
for the multi-channel analyzer (MCA).
DAC electronics: not used
LVP Electronics: this handles signals for LVP electronic devices. There is a number of electronics, such as Stanford Research Systems (SRS) preamp (# 2; used for photo diode input and output), two Keithley digital multimeters (#1 for DC signals – thermocouple, ram load and displacement, #2 used for AC signals for the power supply), and a digital-analog converter (DAC; used for controlling heating power supply).
Scan: sets up scans.
Generic RS232 & GPIB: not used.
2. MCA: for data
acquisition. For detailed information on the CARS IDL MCA program, click here.
See 13-BM-D instruction.
3. CCD and Imaging
An imaging system is used to
"view" the cell under high pressure. This capability will help
greatly in finding the sample and checking thermocouple conditions under
pressure. Check with Hardware Manual for setup configuration. To view the cell,
turn CCD on and run the WinView32 program:
Start -> Program
-> WinView32
You’ll get a window that looks like
this: (needs work)
4.
Experimental Startup Procedure
6.1 Create
Data File Directory on the T: drive
6.2 Copy catch1d.env and
mca.preference to That Directory
6.3 Open MEDM Control Windows
6.4
Open MCA
6.5
Turn on LVP Electronics
6.6
Turn on the Hutch Video Monitor and VCR
For suggestions/comments contact Yanbin Wang