How to Interlock Hutch
Interlocking the hutch is a process which ensures that nobody is inside the hutch when there is X-ray radiation present.
It consists of three steps:
1) Searching the hutch
2) Locking the hutch door
3) Openning the X-ray stoppers
1) Searching the hutch
During the search, the person with the hutch key makes sure that nobody is left inside the hutch after they leave. The search is initialized by turning the hutch key in the 'Hutch Interlock Start' box inside the hutch (see floorplan for exact position).
The Hutch Interlock Start box is a bright yellow box with a red 'Emergency Stop' button on it't top part and a keylock on the bottom part.
After turning the key the lights is the hutch will turn off and the loud search sound will play. Take the key out of the box and proceed to step 2.
Important: If someone is left inside the hutch when it is interlocked, pressing the 'Emergency Stop' button will drop the SSRL beam and prevent any radiation exposure to the person inside the hutch.
2) Locking the hutch door
After making sure that there is no other person left inside the hutch, exit the hutch and close the outside door. The BL4-2 hutch has two sliding doors - an inside and an outside one. The inside door is made out of black plastic and is closed only during the laser experiments. For interlocking the hutch the outside, metal door needs to be closed. Lock the hutch door with the hutch door key (not the same as the hutch key from step 1), take the key out of the lock and continue to step 3.
3) Openning the X-ray stoppers
Put the hutch door key from step 2 into the Hutch Intelock Panel and turn it clockwise. This will bring the beamline online and at the same time the search sound will stop and the light inside the hutch will be turned on again. Flipping the Stoppers switch upwards will open the beamline for to the X-rays.
One important thing to remember that, starting from turning the hutch key in step 1, the whole procedure has to be finished in less than 30 seconds. If the beamline is not online after 30 seconds the search is canceled and needs to be restarted.
To gain the access to the hutch again undo the steps 2 and 3 in reverse order:
- Flip the Stoppers switch down,
- Remove the hutch door key while holding down the 'Release enable' button (wait for it to light on first),
- Unlock the hutch door with the hutch door key.