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UTA Large Perpetual Cloud Chamber
Liquid Supply and Circulation
Layne Price
Introduction
• Liquid Supply and Circulation Group: Jessica Jette, Daniel Thomas, Layne Price
• Work closely in tandem with structural design group
Basic Idea for the LPCC
• Charged particles enter a super-cooled isopropyl alcohol vapor forming droplets along the particle’s trajectory, leaving a visible trace
• This visible track can then be taken as evidence for the entrance of these charged particles into the chamber
Motivation
• To design a perpetual cloud chamber with joint input from the physics and chemistry students
• This would be the largest such chamber in existence
• Display the chamber in the CPB foyer in order to stimulate interest in physics, and in particular high energy particles
• Could be used for both instruction and laboratory measurement
Design Requirements and Considerations
• Develop a perpetual system that both supplies the cloud chamber with enough alcohol to operate and circulates the liquid so that alcohol will rarely have to be input into the chamber
• 4-part design: Supply Reservoir, Heat Bath and Pump System, Jets, Alcohol Exit Mechanism
Final Design
1
2
4
3
1. Isopropyl Alcohol Reservoir
• Large, well insulated, plastic reservoir
• Will hold all the alcohol necessary for perpetual operation of the LPCC
• Timed valve
2. Heat Bath and Pump System
• Second reservoir that acts as a heat bath• Heat the alcohol to promote faster evaporation
rate• Electrically operated heating coils and pump• T-connection• Second timed valve• Set, controlled alcohol level
3. Liquid Ejection onto the Evaporation Troughs
• Series of T-connections that attach to 180 degree alcohol misters
• Eject the alcohol onto the felt balls in the chamber’s evaporation trough
4. Chamber Exit Mechanism
• Angled trench at edge of chamber’s bottom• Alcohol condensation will slowly disperse along
the bottom of the chamber to these trenches• Alcohol will return to the supply reservoir to
circulate again
Test and Functionality
• Supply Reservoir– Simple to build, no foreseeable problem– Operates by gravity—must be higher than
heat bath– Yet to determine necessary volume and time
interval for final design
Tests and Functionality
• Heat Bath and Pump System– Heat bath is the biggest unknown, yet to be built– The pump system, with timed valve, has been built and works
well– Again need to determine necessary volume and time interval for
final chamber
Tests and Functionality
• Liquid Ejection onto the Evaporation Troughs– System works well– Need structural design team to mount and
insert the tubing onto the chamber
Tests and Functionality
• Chamber Exit Mechanism– Has not been built, has not been tested– Need to build onto the structural bottom of the
chamber– We have yet to get with structural design team
to manufacture the trench system
Conclusion
• The system should work fairly well with foreseeably only minor problems
• UNLESS the exit mechanism doesn’t work• Some time will need to be put into
determining exact volumes necessary for operation and the corresponding timed intervals for the valves
• The system would seem to be able to supply the alcohol into the chamber without incident