The X-ray beam may be switched on only after the experimental area, the Hutch, has been made safe. No personnel should be left behind, either accidentally or intentionally. It is recommended that only one person should complete the search procedure. Appropriate warnings and safety mechanisms are deployed, and must not be tampered with. The main shutter for Line 9 is called Port 9 and can be controlled only from the Machine Control Room. When the port is open, the station shutters, W9.STOP.11 and W9.STOP.06, may be opened only after the hutch has been interlocked, allowing the beam to illuminate the optical elements downstream: the mirror that focuses the beam in the vertical, and the monochromator that focuses it in the horizontal. At this stage beam is actually in the hutch and stopped only by the camera shutter.
Occasionally you may find that the valve, W9.VALV.06, has closed. This valve must be re-opened before the station shutters can be opened. The valve closes when the vacuum in the beam pipe, between the station and the port, is not of sufficient quality.
The search procedure may be activated with the panel fixed on the hutch wall, to the left of the door, as follows:
Turn the knob on the panel to the ON position. Use the swipe card that your station manager has given you to start the search. A siren will start sounding, to warn personnel in the hutch that it is about to be interlocked.
The operator should go inside the hutch, to the far wall, and push the green button in the panel marked SEARCH POINT A; then back down the hutch to the far end behind the Theta arm and push the green button on SEARCH POINT B; and then exit the hutch.
Close the door but do not slam it, since it might bounce back. While holding the door tightly closed, push the SEARCH COMPLETE button on the panel to the left. Make sure the latch has engaged in its recess. This procedure should be completed within one minute, otherwise it will have to be restarted from scratch. Upon successful completion, the white lights inside the hutch will go off, and the blue warning lights will come on for a period of 20 seconds. When all the interlocks have been verified, the white lights come back on and the Hutch Interlocked light will come on above the door. It is now safe to open the station shutter.
Should anybody be trapped inside the hutch despite all these precautions, the flap on the inside of the door may be pushed, breaking the interlock and making the hutch safe. This will also cause the recess of the latch to fall out outside the hutch, so that the interlock may not be reachieved quickly before people have had the chance to get out. If the person trapped inside is not sufficiently close to the door to open it from inside, one of the yellow rings, situated at many points inside the hutch and marked Emergency Beam Off, may be pushed to TRIP THE PORT. Obviously, this is a drastic measure, and will affect all the other users on Line 9, but should be activated if the necessity arises. There is one extra yellow ring outside the hutch, next to the red ring that controls the fan.
This should cause a window to appear showing a diagram of the beamline, complete with all the valves, ion pumps/gauges, mirror, slits and mono etc.
Check the colour of the items marked W9.STOP.11, W9.VALV.06 and W9.STOP.06. They should be green for open. If a shutter or the valve is yellow or red, click on it with the mouse and then click the RESET and OPEN buttons to let x-rays into the hutch.
When the User needs to go back into the hutch, the interlock can be broken by turning the knob to the left of the door handle to OFF. This will automatically close the station shutter, and open the hutch door. The first person to enter the hutch must use the Geiger Counter to check the experimental area for radiation.