Design and construction of a liquid xenon test apparatus

Li, Yang

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Description

Title

Design and construction of a liquid xenon test apparatus

Author(s)

Li, Yang

Issue Date

2014-05-30T16:51:32Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

• Yang, Liang
• Johnson, Harley T.

Department of Study

Mechanical Sci & Engineering

Discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• liquid xenon system
• Enriched Xenon Observatory (EXO)
• neutrinoless double beta decay
• purification

Abstract

This thesis discusses the design and initial construction of a liquid xenon test apparatus for the Enriched Xenon Observatory (EXO) experiment. The EXO collaboration aims to explore neutrinoless double beta decay using isotopically enriched Xe-136. It has already published several high impact physics result with EXO-200, and is in R&D stage for nEXO, a tonne scale experiment. The test apparatus is built for Next R&D studies, such as Xe purity, and electronics in liquid xenon. This thesis mainly talks about the system and mechanical design of the apparatus. Xenon system consists of several sub-systems, including experimental chamber, recirculation and purification loop, feed and bleed system, emergency recovery loop, auxiliary cooling sub-system, and slow control system. Several main tasks have already been completed, including mechanical design of different equipment, slow control system setup, database setup, thermodynamics calculation, and sensor testing and calibration. Finally, the thesis discusses commissioning and test plan for the apparatus.

Graduation Semester

2014-05

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/49593

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2014 Yang Li

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