Optical transmission of thermal measurements from high voltage devices in high vacuum conditions

The paper describes a system for digitization and optical transmission of thermal measurements on high voltage devices in high vacuum environmental conditions and presents the tests conducted on a prototype. The system has been designed in particular to satisfy such technical requirements as to be mounted on the grounded grid of the SPIDER facility (a 100keV/60A particle accelerator) and to withstand frequent fault conditions in which the voltage of the grid transiently rises up to some tens of kV. The system is based on a circuit which samples and transmits the signals to the central acquisition system while preserving the signals and avoiding any electrical links between the high voltage device and the vacuum vessel. Moreover the system has to be designed so as to minimize the electromagnetic noise affecting the low amplitude signals from the thermocouples. The circuit design is presented, describing the layout and the electronic components for the acquisition of the thermocouple signals and for the data transmission via optical fiber. When SPIDER is operational, with up to one hour pulse duration, the circuit is powered by a battery, which is in turn recharged by the energy coming from a photovoltaic cell when SPIDER is not operational and the circuit is not acquiring. Data are digitally transmitted according to RS-232 protocol for easy interfacing to the central data acquisition system. The circuit has been tested to check its proper operation, with particular care devoted to the data transmission and the recharging phase. The results are reported and discussed.