mLan 2004     

Chris (Indiana) Church                                                                                              

 

2003 Page      Driver Box    AutoCAD Files        Some Photos            Other Things We Like

 

July 2004 

           

            We spent the month of July at PSI in Switzerland installing or LED system. 

 

June 11, 2004

           

            I have started helping Eric with the production of the driver boards.  We seem to be able to complete about 6 boards per hour and have been shooting for a goal of at least 16 per day.

 

June 9, 2004

           

            The final design for the back panels has been sent to Harlan and Lash Machining to be made.  We should receive them by June 18.  This will allow us enough time to attach the necessary components to them and complete all 12 boxes on time.

 

June 3, 2004

 

            I am waiting to hear back from the machine shop that will be making the back panels about both cost and preferred method.  We are considering if it will be easier to simply remake the entire back panel form scratch or whether we will machine the existing ones.  I added the hole for and mounted the grounding point on the front panels today.  This point will be the ground point used when testing the B+ voltage for a given channel.  

 

May 27, 2004

 

            The Annual Virginia Academy of Science meeting was held at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond Virginia on May 27.  Both Mike Clemens and I presented in the Math, Physics, and Astronomy section on the Mulan project.   My presentation was titled Using Fiber Optics and Light Emitting Diodes in the Mulan Detector Calibration System (Abstract). 

 

May 17th and 18th 2004

           

            The 2004 Mulan collaboration meeting was held at the University of Illinois May 17th and 18th.  Dr. Giovanetti, Chris Church, Eric Bartel, Mike Clemens, and Rebekah Esmaili represented JMU.   My perspective.

 

 

Update May 2004

 

            For the past few months I have been working on the design of the boxes that will house all of the electronics that control the LED flasher boards.  There will be 12 boxes total, each containing 16 driver boards, 2 ECL to TTL translator boards, a power supply, and case fan accounting for 32 total channels per box.  Using AutoCAD software I have modeled each component and assembled a virtual model of a completed box in order to insure that there was enough space for everything.

            I have also designed a mounting bracket for the driver boards that will allow their easy removal and installation from the front of the boxes.  Five brackets were prototyped by Dwight Dart using the rapid prototyping lab in the ISAT building for initial testing.  At this point consideration was given to the possibility of fabricating the desired 200 driver brackets from this process, but it was ultimately determined that stainless steel would offer a stronger and more cost efficient bracket. 

            Along with producing the brackets the front panel of the driver box had to be machined to allow the driver boards to be installed.  The pattern was a simple rectangular window with 32 bracket mounting holes drilled in it, 16 above and 16 below.  This work has been sent off and should be completed by the end of May. 

            A rough design for the back panel has also been put together that will allow for the placement of the power switch, case fan, ECL to TTL boards, and a parallel port connection for the possible incorporation of the FPGA into the boxes.  The final design should be finished by the first of June and production will begin shortly after.