A Great Beam of Light for Advanced and for Science!

Diamond Synchrotron

Seven Advanced Mx fire panels have been installed into a groundbreaking scientific facility that promises to answer fundamental questions about everything from the building blocks of life to the origin of our planet.

Diamond is a circular-shaped machine called a synchrotron that uses arrays of magnets, called insertion devices, to generate bright beams of synchrotron light. Around the machine there are a number of research laboratories called beamlines, where scientists independently use the light generated by the machine for a wide variety of experiments.

Synchrotron light is an indispensable tool in many research areas including chemistry, physics, materials science and crystallography. It is also increasingly being exploited by new communities such as medicine, structural genomics and archaeology.

The state of the art site will be the best medium-energy x-ray source in the world and 10,000 times brighter than the UK’s current facility based in Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire. The Diamond site will house seven rack mounted Mx fire panels on an Ad-NeT network, with up to 14,000 detection points safeguarding the site. A site this size makes full use of the Mx panels peer to peer interface with full cross panel reporting and cause and effect functionality. As well as the powerful ‘Trace’ diagnostics feature which enables highly accurate device monitoring of all loop, sounder and auxiliary outputs.

In the event of a fire the site could potentially be extremely dangerous which is a great testament to the Advanced panel being chosen.Before construction began, engineers carried out detailed analysis of the site, which highlighted the variation in soil properties across the site and the seasonal variation in the water table. To ensure stability, Diamond sits on a sophisticated piling platform, comprising 1,500 concrete piles anchored into the stable layer of hard chalk up to 15 metres below the site’s surface. There is a void between the ground and the slabs for the experimental hall and storage ring, to allow for any movement in the top layers of clay, gravel and broken-down chalk.

A further 22 beamlines could be accommodated by installing more than one beamline per insertion device and positioning beamlines on bending magnets. To keep the beam correctly positioned during the experiment, the beamline optics must be extremely stable, both mechanically and thermally. This is quite an engineering challenge, as the intense synchrotron radiation imparts enormous heat loads onto the optics, potentially causing thermal distortion. Engineers have studied assembly practices and materials used at various synchrotron facilities around the world to ensure the best systems are in place at Diamond and beamline stability is ensured.

Ray Hope Managing Director of Advanced Electronics said, “We view this project as one of the most prestigious and technically challenging of 2004/05. The site provides the perfect showcase for the technical capabilities of our panels, paired with Apollo’s Discovery line of detectors. The site at Diamond will become a world renowned hub of scientific breakthrough, and here at Advanced we are proud to be safeguarding such an illustrious building.”