6–10 Jul 2026
University of the Western Cape
Africa/Johannesburg timezone
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Electrical Characterisation and Quality Assurance of ATLAS TileCal LVPS Bricks Using a Single-Board Test Bench

7 Jul 2026, 17:20
1h 20m
Great Hall (University of the Western Cape)

Great Hall

University of the Western Cape

Poster Presentation Track B - Nuclear, Particle and Radiation Physics Poster Session 1

Speaker

Lungisani Phakathi (University of Witwatersrand)

Description

The Phase-II upgrade of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter requires a reliable Low Voltage Power Supply (LVPS) system capable of stable operation under High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) conditions. As part of the production quality assurance chain, a single-brick test bench has been upgraded to perform initial functional validation of LVPS converter boards prior to burn-in and system-level integration. Each LVPS brick is designed to deliver approximately ~10 V output at load currents in the range of a nominal ~2.3 A, corresponding to output powers of up to ~70 W, with expected efficiencies above 60 %. The test bench enables controlled electrical characterisation of individual bricks, including measurements of output voltage regulation, load current stability, input current behaviour from the ~200 V DC supply, and conversion efficiency. This initial test stage serves as a critical filter in the production pipeline, enabling early identification of faulty or non-compliant units before burn-in testing. The results demonstrate that the test bench provides reproducible and quantitative validation of brick performance, ensuring consistency across production batches and contributing to the overall reliability of the LVPS system.

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Author

Sanele Gumede (University of Witwatersrand)

Co-authors

Bruce Mellado (University of the Witwatersrand and iThemba LABS) Donald Ngobeni Edward Nkadimeng (NRF-iThemba LABS) Kutlwano Makgetha (University of the Witwatersrand) Lungisani Phakathi (University of Witwatersrand) Njokweni Mbuyiswa (University of the Witwatersrand) Ryan Mckenzie (University of the Witwatersrand) Thabo Pilusa (University of the Witwatersrand) Thapelo Gerry Leboho (University of Witwatersrand) Vongani Chabalala (University of Witwatersrand) Vuyolwethu Happyboy Kakancu (University of the Witwatersrand)

Presentation materials