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Title: Sensitive and simple method for measuring wire tensions

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5031768· OSTI ID:5031768

Measuring tension of wires in drift chambers and multiwire proportional chambers after construction is an important process because sometimes wires get loose after soldering, crimping or glueing. One needs to sort out wires which have tensions below a required minimum value to prevent electrostatic instabilities. There have been several methods reported on this subject in which the wires were excited either with sinusoidal current under magnetic field or with sinusoidal voltage electrostatically coupled to the wire, searching for a resonating frequency with which the wires vibrate mechanically. Then the vibration is detected either visually, optically or with magnetic pick-up directly touching the wires. Any of these is only applicable to the usual multiwire chamber which has open access to the wire plane. They also need fairly large excitation currents to induce a detectable vibration to the wires. Here we report a very simple method that can be used for any type of wire chamber or proportional tube system for measuring wire tension. Only a very small current is required for the wire excitation to obtain a large enough signal because it detects the induced emf voltage across a wire. A sine-wave oscillator and a digital voltmeter are sufficient devices aside from a permanent magnet to provide the magnetic field around the wire. A useful application of this method to a large system is suggested.

Research Organization:
Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); National Lab. for High Energy Physics, Oho, Ibaraki (Japan)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-76CH03000
OSTI ID:
5031768
Report Number(s):
FERMILAB/TM-1125; ON: DE82021918
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English