AbstractsEngineering

Design and construction of a liquid xenon test apparatus

by Yang Li




Institution: University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign
Department:
Year: 2014
Keywords: liquid xenon system
Record ID: 2056831
Full text PDF: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/49593


Abstract

This thesis discusses the design and initial construction of a liquid xenon test apparatus for the Enriched Xenon Observatory (EXO) experiment. The EXO collaboration aims to explore neutrinoless double beta decay using isotopically enriched Xe-136. It has already published several high impact physics result with EXO-200, and is in R&D stage for nEXO, a tonne scale experiment. The test apparatus is built for Next R&D studies, such as Xe purity, and electronics in liquid xenon. This thesis mainly talks about the system and mechanical design of the apparatus. Xenon system consists of several sub-systems, including experimental chamber, recirculation and purification loop, feed and bleed system, emergency recovery loop, auxiliary cooling sub-system, and slow control system. Several main tasks have already been completed, including mechanical design of different equipment, slow control system setup, database setup, thermodynamics calculation, and sensor testing and calibration. Finally, the thesis discusses commissioning and test plan for the apparatus.