SNS Sample Environment

WKU Designs Software for AGES and PAGES

In the spring of 2009, the Sample Environment (SE) team began an expansion of its gas-handling capabilities to accommodate experiments in which users focus on probing their samples with neutrons, while simultaneously monitoring in situ gas absorption. An Automated Gas Environment System (AGES) has been on POWGEN’s (SNS Powder Diffractometer) wish list since the end of instrument construction. Completion of AGES was accomplished by the shared efforts of SE group members Bruce Hill and Landon Solomon and staff from Western Kentucky University (WKU). 

To kick off the AGES collaboration, Landon Solomon (left) of SNS takes (left to right) Jacob Baxley, Dr. Doug Harper, and Nathan Campbell on a tour of SNS.

The Physics Department at WKU collaborated with SNS SE staff by offering an elective course in which students would write and test a LabVIEW virtual instrument (VI) for AGES. At the completion of their course in May 2009, students presented the software package and expressed to their professor, Dr. Doug Harper, their enthusiasm for the opportunity afforded by the course. One of the students, Nathan Campbell, was so excited about the project that he applied for an internship to work on the AGES offspring PAGES (Portable Automated Gas Environment System). From June through August, Nathan worked alongside SE staff to modify software for PAGES. 

How the Two Units Compare

AGES/PAGES hardware designer Bruce Hill.

AGES is a gas-handling unit that

• can mix up to 10 gases precisely (through mass flow controllers)—3 hazardous gases and 7 inert gases,
• manages hazardous gases in a separate cabinet,
• is capable of preventing initial contamination with an automated pump/purge system from source to destination,
• uses compressed air and vacuum sensors for remote control, and
• offers a software-managed warning to ensure that the system does not pump on an open gas cylinder.

PAGES is a portable gas-handling unit that

• allows flow from 3 different gases—2 precisely (through mass flow controllers),
• offers a line pump-out feature, and
• allows multiple gas selection with correction factors built into the software.

AGES will be installed and dedicated to experiments conducted at POWGEN.  The PAGES system is complete and ready for user requests. It was recently prepared for a user experiment at BASIS (SNS Backscattering Spectrometer). All hardware layout and fabrication was performed at SNS by Bruce Hill.

Click image for a larger view:

PAGES contained along side the automation software.	AGES LabVIEW System Control GUI.	PAGES.

AGES SMC Control.	Nathan Campbell programming software for remote control of AGES.	Mass flow controller layout in AGES.

December 2009