Linac Tube Interface - FAQ

What Happens

What happens when I:

View the main page
The index page for a tube picked or the default tube is displayed. The options available can vary depending on what tube is being viewed. At the top, there may be a query made for any active tubes and a table and/or plot of data available is displayed. Each row in the table will show the station, the tube serial number and the current number of recorded hours. The table will then show the hours on the tube assuming it is still in the station by adding the elapsed time from the last recorded date. The last column shows the expected remaining hours for that tube based on the lifetime of tubes in that station for the last five years.

The plot is available for the 7835 tubes and will show this information also but the station lifetimes are averaged for station 2-5 and that is used to put the expected fail date.

Clicking on the serial number will show that tubes history and clicking on the plot will display a larger version.

There may also be a table show the status of tubes and how many tubes are at that status. Clicking on the number or the status will show more information about the tubes at that status.

Add a new tube
The form to add a new tube will change slightly depending on the type being added. The 7835 tubes will ask for information about the tube being getterless and borrowed as well as if it has an ion pump. Tubes 7835 and 4616 can have rebuild tasks assigned to them so there will be a list available for those. And tubes 7835, 7651, ML-6544, 4616, VKP-7955 and L-5859 can have Special Operating Spare values.

This form should not be used to enter tubes coming back as rebuilt. Those should use the rebuild form for the tube that was sent out.

Update tube information
The form used to add a new tube will be filled in with information that can be changed. Most changes made there will do just that - just update that information. The one exception is changing the status to "Being Rebuilt". That will cause an entry to be started to keep track of the rebuilding history and until that is finished, the status can not be updated on this page.

After an update on the tube information page, the spare count is checked and if low, a message will be sent to Fernanda - even if this particular update did now cause the shortage.

Also, certain information is only available for change for those adminstrators with full access. For example, changing the rebuild number can not be changed by everyone. That should only need changed if there was an error in the original entry.

Insert a tube in a station
Viewing this form will display those tubes that have a status of spare, conditioning or stand by. Tubes of a status other than those are assumed to not be ready to go into a station. Once the information is filled in, the tube station history is started and the tube status is changed to "Active".

The list of stations provided to insert a tube is based on those stations that need tubes and on the number that particular type of tube is needed in each station. There are also tubes that are specific to certain stations.

Edit tube in station history
This option, available from the popup menu on the tube's history window, will show the information available about the station history for a tube. Information can be changed or updated here and there will be a section for each time the tube was in a station.

If a tube's outservice date is added or updated for tubes that also allow entering the hours, those hours will be automatically populated based on the difference between the inservice and outservice dates. This will not take into account previous station history hours but the number can be changed before commiting the history - adding the previous hours to the ones computed.

There are some tube types whose hours are calculated solely on the basis of their inservice date and date recorded. If these tubes can be used in a station more than once, this calculation will have to be revisited.

Some tube specific information about the tube can be changed here also but if a tube has been used in more that one station, the tube specific information will only be edittable in one location in the list.

Use the tube rebuild form
This form allows updates and keeps track of the rebuilding process. The status of the rebuild is kept along with things like where it is sent, when it was marked to be rebuilt, POs for the TC&A and then the rebuild itself. Depending on the tube type the form may be slightly different.

Once a 7835 tube is marked as received, the date and the rebuild number is asked for. This number will be pre-populated with the next incremental number for this serial number.

For other tubes, the date is also asked for but the new serial number is also entered. For the F1123 tubes, the serial may not change and in this case, the system wants to keep track of that fact that this is a rebuild and a letter indicating the next in the sequence is chosen. For example, if this is the first rebuild of that serial number, the letter 'a' is used. If this is the second, the letter 'b' is used and so on.

If a new serial number is used, the rebuilt tube's information is kept with the new tube. This will allow tracking of what was rebuilt from what and to what.

In either case a new entry for this tube is started and it is marked with a status of "TBD". And the old, rebuilt tube, is given a rebuilt status of "Received" and a tube status of "Archive"

Mark a Rebuilding Tube as Scrapped
When working the rebuilding tube interface, if it is decided that the tube can't be repaired, mark it scrapped and this will also mark the tube as archived. If this scrapped tube is replaced by a new one, enter the serial number for the new tube under the "Received" section. This will move the cost and PO of the scrapped / replaced tube to the new one.

Mark a tube "Being Rebuilt"
When a tube is marked "Being Rebuilt", an entry will be made in the rebuild history table if it has not been marked with this status in the past and the status of that tube can then only be changed in the rebuild interface.

Delete a tube
There are a couple different ways to delete tube information and they are both explained in the documentation.

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