K-130 Cyclotron vacuum system

The vacuum system for K-130 cyclotron has been operational since 1977. It consists of two sub-systems, main vacuum system and beam line vacuum system. The main vacuum system is designed to achieve and maintain vacuum of about 1 × 10⁻⁶ mbar inside the 23 m³ volume of acceleration chamber comprising the Resonator tank and the Dee tank. The beam line vacuum system is required for transporting the extracted beam with minimum loss. These vacuum systems consist of diffusion pumps backed by mechanical pumps like roots and rotary pumps. The large vacuum pumps and valves of the cyclotron vacuum system were operational for more than twenty five years. In recent times, problems of frequent failures and maintenance were occurring due to aging and lack of appropriate spares. Hence, modernisation of the vacuum systems was taken up in order to ensure a stable high voltage for radio frequency system and the extraction system. This is required for efficient acceleration and transportation of high intensity ion beam. The vacuum systems have been upgraded by replacing several pumps, valves, gauges and freon units. The relay based control system for main vacuum system has also been replaced by PLC based state of the art control system. The upgraded control system enables inclusion of additional operational logics and safety interlocks into the system. The paper presents the details of the vacuum system and describes the modifications carried out for improving the performance and reliability of the vacuum system.