2 research outputs found
Hydrostatic Level Sensors as High Precision Ground Motion Instrumentation for Tevatron and Other Energy Frontier Accelerators
Particle accelerators pushed the limits of our knowledge in search of the
answers to most fundamental questions about micro-world and our Universe. In
these pursuits, accelerators progressed to higher and higher energies and
particle beam intensities as well as increasingly smaller and smaller beam
sizes. As the result, modern existing and planned energy frontier accelerators
demand very tight tolerances on alignment and stability of their elements:
magnets, accelerating cavities, vacuum chambers, etc. In this article we
describe the instruments developed for and used in such accelerators as
Fermilab's Tevatron (FNAL, Batavia, IL USA) and for the studies toward an
International Linear Collider (ILC). The instrumentation includes Hydrostatic
Level Sensors (HLS) for very low frequency measurements. We present design
features of the sensors, outline their technical parameters, describe test and
calibration procedures and discuss different regimes of operation. Experimental
results of the ground motion measurements with these detectors will be
presented in subsequent paper
New autonomous sensor system for the continous monitoring of the composting process from the inside
The composting process is Nature's way of recycling organic wastes with a good quality organic fertilizer as a result. This process, though, needs of a thoroughly monitoring of temperature and humidity for a good resulting material. During this Ph.D thesis we developed a wireless temperature and humidity autonomous system that monitored from the inside of compost. The fact of measuring and transmitting from the inside implies the need of a protection for the circuit and an issue in the measure.
Temperature suffers delays when measuring from the inside of a protection and, as such, we developed an algorithm, implementable on microcontrollers, to counteract the effects of first order step responses. The conditioning has been optimized in terms of components and consumption, obtaining a theoretical and experimental comparative between the classic conditioning and the use of direct interfaces.
Commercial humidity sensors need to be in direct contact with the environment they are measuring, but that is not possible in compost since they can get damaged. That is why we designed a humidity sensor based on coplanar capacitive electrodes that can measure through a protection layer. Some theoretical models have been obtained for the physical optimization of both the sensor and the influence of the protective layer.
Compost has never been characterised as a transmission environment, and as such, communications in compost are innovative. The heterogeneity of the material and its changes in humidity, temperature and density made the transmission complex. We found the proper frequency band to commercially work in compost and the RF transmission model in compost to estimate attenuation vs distance.El procĂ©s de compostatge Ă©s la forma que tĂ© la natura de reciclar els residus orgĂ nics amb un fertilitzant orgĂ nic de bona qualitat com a resultat. Aquest procĂ©s, però, necessita d’una monitoritzaciĂł de la temperatura i la humitat per a obtenir un bon material resultant. Durant aquesta tesi doctoral s'ha desenvolupat un sistema autònom sense fils de mesura de temperatura i humitat des de dins del compost. El fet de que la mesura i la transmissiĂł s’hagin fet des de dins comporta la necessitat d’un material protector per l’electrònica, la qual cosa esdevĂ© un problema en la mesura. La temperatura pateix retards quan es mesura des de dins d’un material protector, i per això, s’ha desenvolupat un algoritme implemetanble en microcontroladors per contrarestar els efectes de respostes esglaĂł de primer ordre. S'ha optimitzat el condicionament des del punt de vista de components i consum, obtenint una comparativa teòrica i experimental entre els mètodes de condicionament clĂ ssic i l'Ăşs d'interfĂcies directes. Els sensors de humitat comercials necessiten estar en contacte directe amb l’ambient a mesurar. Això no Ă©s possible en el compost ja que es poden malmetre. Per això s’ha dissenyat un sensor d’humitat basat en elèctrodes capacitius plans que poden mesurar a travĂ©s de capes de protecciĂł. S'han extret models teòrics per l’optimitzaciĂł fĂsica tant del sensor com de la influencia de la capa protectora El compost no ha estat mai caracteritzat com un medi de transmissiĂł, i per tant, les comunicacions dins del compost suposen una novetat. La heterogeneĂŻtat del material i els seus canvis en temperatura, humitat i densitat fan de la transmissiĂł un tema complex. S’ha trobat, a mĂ©s, la banda de freqüència òptima per treballar comercialment i el seu model de transmissiĂł RF estimant l’atenuaciĂł en funciĂł de la distĂ nciaPostprint (published version