May 30, 2018
The hutch sprinklers have been plumbed in. Now let’s hope they are NEVER needed.
May 16, 2018
The selection process for the Gemini robotic sample automoutner was very difficult; we received three outstanding proposals in response to the LBNL Request for Bid process. In the end, based on previous installations, expertise, and cost, we decided for NatX-Ray, a company based in Grenoble, France. Here is their conceptual layout for the robot which will be able to reach both endstations in the Gemini hutch, as seen from the top.
May 10, 2018
The Gemini monochromator tank EMPTY vs FULL.
May 8, 2018
The Gemini monochromator install is in progress. The tank (and granite base) went out onto the experimental floor today. The install of the optic is planned for next week with the vendor onsite.
April 27, 2018
The Gemini undulator has arrived! It is now in building 15, and we will commence testing of the magnetics in the next month.
The LEDA Undulator
March 27, 2018
The Gemini hutch walls are up. This is the area previously occupied by the Vacuum group at the ALS. The last hutch at the ALS!
Feb 12, 2018
Preparation for installation of hutch walls includes electrical work and removing of remaining vacuum group cabinets and workbenches from the area:
Jan 18, 2018
Gemini hutch walls have arrived. Some assembly required….
Dec 1, 2017
Good news and bad news for Sector 2. First, the bad news: due to a delay in construction of the specialized vacuum valves for the ALS ring, the undulator can’t go in to the ALS ring until July. We had been holding out on the hope that the valves would arrive sooner, but alas, they will not arrive until February. The ALS has scheduled a long shutdown in July to install the undulator. The good news is that all the major beamline components will be installed by then, including the mirrors, which are onsite now and due for installation next week.
August 22, 2017
The very first hardware has gone onto the experimental floor at sector 2: the first electronics racks. Maybe not super exciting, but definitely a milestone.
August 3, 2017
July 7, 2017
July 5, 2017
June 12, 2017
April 25, 2017
April 5, 2017
March 6, 2017
Feb 6, 2017
The PS/PSS (photon stop - personnel safety shutter) has arrived. This is the main shutter inside the ring for Gemini.
The unit was custom built by FMB-Oxford, and had to go through extensive review by safety at the ALS, since it is the first of its kind here, though Oxford has built similar units for the Diamond Light Source.
Jan 30, 2017
Dec 13, 2016
Nov 29, 2016
Oct 28, 2016
Oct 6, 2016
Namely, we have planned:
Install of the first aperture (AP001) inside the shield wall
Install anchors, stand, and first valve (VVR001) inside the shield wall
Install IG1 Top-Off shielding aperture inside the shield wall
Install LCW (house water system) front end manifolds, inside the shield wall
Install 2X LN2 drops (1X for the hutch, 1X for the mono) outside the shield wall
Sept 8, 2016
July 28, 2016
May 21, 2016
April 20, 2016
Feb 20, 2016
http://www.axilon.de/
January 29, 2016
January 12, 2016
January 6, 2016
September 18, 2015
We are very fortunate to have an outstanding Scientific Advisory Board for the Gemini beamline. The board members are: Bob Fischetti (APS), Dan Harrington (SSRL), Gwyndaf Evans (Diamond Light Source) and Julian Adams (NSLS-II). All of the committee members have extensive experience in building microfocus beamlines, and the discussion during the first SAB meeting, in which we focused on the beamline optical layout and the undulator source, was extremely productive.
August 5, 2015
The Conceptual Design Review is complete! The meeting went well - the optical design and beamline layout were reviewed by the engineering, radiation, controls, and interlocks groups at the ALS and given the "go-ahead". Ordering of optical components will now commence...
June 30, 2015
I never would have guessed how much could go into the design of a hutch. This week, the engineering team investigated all the repercussions of the planned Gemini hutch height, which can be a maximum of 11 feet high, given the space constraints. The hutch height influences the earthquake stability, the number and position of feedthroughs for cabling, the thermal cycling of the hutch, and the type/position of equipment inside the hutch. Of particular concern was the height of the detector gantry. It has to be high enough that the detector can be moved vertically upward high enough to record high resolution data, but not so high that vibrational stability becomes an issue. It is all sorted out now with a detector gantry design that fits into an agreed-upon hutch height of 10.5 feet.
April 9, 2015
The design of the front-end of Gemini is complete! Engineering ran into a snag last month when they discovered an electrical panel in the front-end that was not documented in any of the ALS drawings. However, they were able to design all the front-end components around the unexpected box, and in fact complete the design. One interesting point is that the final heat-load analysis on the apertures indicated that all the water cooling will have to be "dual pass", which means more complicated drilling of the pieces than in the initial design. The vacuum analysis also indicated that one more ion pump would be needed than in the initial design. But now that these designs are finalized, Engineering will schedule the internal LBNL reviews in the next two months, and then ordering for front-end components will begin this summer. This will leave plenty of time for install in the 2016 shutdown.
Feb 20, 2015
We just got out of a meeting with the Engineering group, who have been doing a very thorough analysis on heat load on the sector 2 front-end apertures. The analysis covers all the worst case (beam mis-steering) possibilities. This is required for the internal engineering reviews as well as the optical design review, and will also ensure that we can close the undulator gap to its minimal value. Below is page 6 from the 50 page analysis document!
Feb 17, 2015
This picture may not mean much to anyone outside the ALS controls group, but it shows the "rotated kicker": an element in the ALS ring in sector 2 that had to be modified to make way for the Gemini undulator. The test of this new device was successful, showing that changes to the current sector 2 elements will not adversely affect operations. Ie, all the other beamlines at the ALS will be just fine! This was an important milestone for the ALS in the Gemini project.
Dec 3, 2014
We (Corie Ralston, Simon Morton, and Peter Zwart) were very pleased to see how organized the LBNL Engineering group is with project management, now that they have swung into full gear. They are using Windchill for the sector 2 project management, which organizes everything in the project, from budget to schedule. All the technical information has now been migrated over to Windchill, including all the quotes for endstation components and beamline optics, as well as the notes from the lengthy technical discussions with the various undulator vendors.
January 9, 2015
The engineering group presented the latest power load calculation from the undulator insertion device. Nine thousand Watts per square milliradian - wow!!
November 14, 2014
Now that the decision has been made to put the undulator in the center of the sector 2 straight, the beamline layout can be completed. Of note: there is no front-end mirror, which greatly simplifies the heat-load issues.
Funding Has Arrived
As of September 2014, we now have the starting funds to build out the sector 2 at the ALS!
Funded primarily by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, this macromolecular crystallography beamline facility will be a state-of-the-art, high performance and high-throughput set of beamliness designed to enhance and increase productivity of the crystallography experiment for scientists around the world. Everyone at the BCSB is very excited by this news, and we will be sharing specs and news here as the project progresses.
