Class Visit to the Accelerator and
the Molecular Beam Epitaxy
Laboratories
2002 November 6
On November 18 and 19 we will visit the McMaster Accelerator Laboratory and the Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) installation of the Centre for Electrophotonic Materials and Devices. The information below on these two systems will help you to prepare for this visit.
The academic purpose of our visit is to see two actual industrial scale control panels exhibiting a variety of human-machine communication modes and aspects of human-machine interaction. Your tasks are to analyze this HCI, assess it and suggest possible improvements. Subsequent written assignments and the final examination may contain related questions.
The van de Graaf Accelerator
In this installation, charged particles (e.g. protons) are accelerated by an electric field of up to 3 million volts. The particles strike a target and interact with the atoms in the target. The radiation and other particles emanating from the interaction of the beam with the target material are measured in order to experimentally determine various properties of the target material.
Upon leaving the high voltage generator, the particles travel down a beam path, passing through several magnetic fields which focus the beam and deflect it. Various measurements taken along the beam path are used to monitor the beam and to control the magnetic fields along the path. The operator at the accelerator control panel monitors the various measurements and adjusts controls to ensure that the beam striking the target has the desired characteristics (e.g. particle speed, current, etc.).
The accelerator control consists of a desk with slanted panels and racks of monitoring and display equipment. Mounted at various places on the panels are meters, indicator lamps, switches, knobs, pushbuttons, etc.
Click on the following links for pictures of the accelerator and its control panel:
Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) is a technique for growing or depositing thin layers of crystalline materials of different types on a substrate. The goal is to make advanced electronic and optoelectronic devices with particular properties and characteristics for specialized applications.
In order to achieve the desired product, the temperature, pressure, flow rates and times, etc. at many places in the MBE chamber must be carefully controlled and synchronized. The human-machine interface provides for entering the many corresponding parameters into the MBE controller and for carefully monitoring and controlling the operation of the system.
The MBE control consists of a desk with a PC and racks of monitoring and display equipment. Mounted at various places in the panels are meters, digital displays, indicator lamps, switches, knobs, etc. It is a crowded area in which the operator sits between panels of instruments on opposite sides of a small floor area.
Click on the following links for pictures of the control panel area:
