EarlierProgress

January .. April 2008

• All Orange cryostats are now equiped with an automatic liquid nitrogen fill
• A new rotatable sample stick for MA15 solves the problem of bad thermal contact at minimum temperature details in German
• The heater stage of the APD was replaced. It can now be reliably controlled over the full temperature range (20 K ... 450 K). details in German

July ... August 2007

• An automatic liquid nitrogen fill mechanism for Orange cryostats has been developed
• To prevent leaks on the o-rings of the needle valve feed throughs on MA15, heaters with thermostats have been installed.

January ... April 2007

• The needle valves of MA09, MA11, MA02 and VARIOX haven been motorized.
• A cold leak on ORI3 was repaired.
• MA09 and ORI2 have still some very small leak into the main vacuum. They have to be pumped continuosly.
• The temperature reading on DIL1 has been changed from the AVS to a more modern, better resistance bridge (LakeShore 370)
• DIL2 can now be used with the so called weak link. This is a sample holder with a weak thermal link to the mixing chamber, allowing access to temperature range from 0.06 K up to 2 K with the same setup.
• For every neutron scattering instrument, a set of standard sample environment equipment has been defined. Proposers have to select from this list, or to check the feasibilty with a SINQ contact person, if they want to use non-standard equipment.

Dec 2005 ... Aug 2006

• SEA (Sample Environment Application), the new software for sample environment control will be installed on all instruments.
• The orange cryostats needle valves have been modified to be driven by a DC-Motor instead of air pressure. A new needle valve controller has been developed, allowing to change the cooling power remotely.
• The new dilution fridge DIL2 was tested in the MA15 cryomagnet. It can also be used in MA11, MA09 and MA02.
• The dilution fridge DIL1 runs now also in MA02, the 1.8 Tesla horizontal field cryomagnet.
• The He-Gas network in the SINQ halls has been reactivated. No more Helium gas bottles are needed.
• There is now a semi-automatic filling station for Liquid Nitrogen.
• The AMOR furnace has now computer control.