The control electronics of the silicon tracker cooling system of the AMS-02 experiment

AMS-02 is a space experiment that will perform cosmic ray observations on board of the International Space Station starting from July 2009. This presentation describes the control electronics for the silicon tracker cooling system in the AMS-02 apparatus. It also contains a brief description of the tracker detector and its cooling system necessary for the description of the electronics. The tracker cooling system includes a set of various sensors and actuators which are necessary for bringing the tracker detector to a uniform temperature at which it can operate correctly. The sensors include: Pt1000 thermistors, semiconductor thermal sensors, differential and absolute pressure sensors, and pump rotational speed sensors. The actuators are: resistive heaters, peltier heat pumps, and liquid pumps. The electronics process the sensor signals, control the actuators, and perform automatic safeguard actions so that the system is capable of operating in a stand-alone mode, i.e. without operator intervention. The electronic system also sends relevant operational data to ground. This paper will describe the design, construction and space qualification of these control electronics.