[en] Results of a study on the purifier system used at the Closed Loop recirculation gas plant of the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC are reported. Previous studies have focused the attention on pollutant and gas analyses. This study mainly deal with characterization of new, used and regenerated metallic purifiers by XRD analyses and thermodynamic simulations. The study is focused on the regeneration processes of the metals, including the reaction mechanisms of copper, zinc and nickel reduction/oxidation and confirms the purifying system efficiency towards the O₂. Partial reduction of CuO to Cu₂O and a not complete reduction to Cu is evident from data reported for copper based purifier. Results discussed provide a complete understanding of both filtration process and reactions implied in the system, thus preluding to optimization of regeneration procedures

[en] This study analyzes in detail the defects in bakelite observed in Resistive Plate Counters (RPC) after exposure to high-radiation environment and fluxed with humidified gas mixture at 9 kV voltage. Objective of this study was to identify the nature of defects and their formation mechanism. The defects were observed firstly on the whole RPC inner surface, and their localization mapped. The defected areas have been analyzed with optical and electron microscopy (SEM), and chemically by EDS (Energy Dispersion Spectroscopy) techniques. An area particularly defect-rich also analysed by x-ray diffraction (XRD). Samples of new and fluxed bakelite have been chemically analyzed by ICP-Plasma (via sample total digestion) in order to determine trace elements variations in composition. model is proposed to explain the chemistry of the formation process.

[en] We propose to adopt Fiber Bragg Grating technology to develop an innovative sensor for monitoring relative humidity of the gas fluxed in Resistive Plate Counters. Use of Fiber Bragg Grating as sensing device makes the proposed sensor well suited to develop distributed real-time monitoring systems to be installed on large volume detectors operated in high electromagnetic fields. In fact Fiber Bragg Gratings are fully immune from electromagnetic disturbances and allow simplified wiring by in-series interconnection of tens of them along a single optical fiber. In this paper we present results intended to investigate the feasibility of our proposal.

[en] Gas detectors for elementary particles require F-based gases for optimal performance. Recent regulations demand the use of environmentally unfriendly F-based gases to be limited or banned. This work studies properties of potential eco-friendly gas replacements by computing the physical and chemical parameters relevant for use as detector media, and suggests candidates to be considered for experimental investigation.

[en] Results from the gas gain monitoring (GGM) system for the RPC muon detector in the CMS experiment at the LHC are presented. The system is designed to provide fast and accurate determination of any shift in the working point of the chambers due to gas mixture changes.

[en] The RPC muon detector of the CMS experiment at the LHC (CERN, Geneva, Switzerland) is equipped with a Gas Gain Monitoring (GGM) system. A report on the stability of the system during the 2011-2012 data taking run is given, as well as the observation of an effect which suggests a novel method for the monitoring of gas mixture composition

[en] Due to the recent restrictions deriving from the application of the Kyoto protocol, the main components of the gas mixtures presently used in the Resistive Plate Chambers systems of the LHC experiments will be most probably phased out of production in the coming years. Identifying possible replacements with the adequate characteristics requires an intense R and D activity, which was recently started, in collaborations with various experiments. Possible new gases have been proposed and are thoroughly investigated. Some tests on one of the most promising candidate—HFO-1234ze, an allotropic form of tetrafluoropropane—have already been reported. Here an innovative approach, based on the use of Helium, to solve the problem related to the high operating voltage needed to operate the chambers with HFO-1234ze based gas mixtures, is discussed and the first results are shown.

[en] Resistive Plate Counters (RPC) detectors at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments use gas recirculation systems to cope with large gas mixture volumes and costs. In this paper a long-term systematic study about gas purifiers, gas contaminants and detector performance is discussed. The study aims at measuring the lifetime of purifiers with new and used cartridge material along with contaminants release in the gas system. During the data-taking the response of several RPC double-gap detectors was monitored in order to characterize the correlation between dark currents, filter status and gas contaminants.

[en] The operations of Resistive Plate Chambers in LHC experiments require Fluorine based (F-based) gases for optimal performance. Recent European regulations demand the use of environmentally unfriendly F-based gases to be limited or banned. In view of the CMS experiment upgrade, several tests are ongoing to measure the performance of the detector with these new ecological gas mixtures, in terms of efficiency, streamer probability, induced charge and time resolution. Prototype chambers with readout pads and with the standard CMS electronic setup are under test. In this paper preliminary results on performance of RPCs operated with a potential eco-friendly gas candidate 1,3,3,3-Tetrafluoropropene, commercially known as HFO-1234ze, with CO₂ and CF₃I based gas mixtures are presented and discussed for the possible application in the CMS experiment.

[en] The Gas Gain Monitoring (GGM) system of the Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) muon detector in the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment provides fast and accurate determination of the stability in the working point conditions due to gas mixture changes in the closed loop recirculation system. In 2011 the GGM began to operate using a feedback algorithm to control the applied voltage, in order to keep the GGM response insensitive to environmental temperature and atmospheric pressure variations. Recent results are presented on the feedback method used and on alternative algorithms. (technical report)