Computer-Aided Recording of Control Wiring

Most particle accelerators heve extensive networks of control wiring. The usual stream of minor modifications requires hundreds of control wires to be added, deleted, or changed in function every few months. Conventional terminal and cable record books and wiring diagrams are difficult to keep up to date and often are cumbersome to use. We have devised improved computer-aided techniques for organizing information about a control wiring network into compact forms convenient both for trouble-shooting and for new design work. Additions and deletions require only a single data card per wire. The computer prints out a pattern of interconnections for each circuit, adds information on circuit functions, and finds and marks such probable errors as dead-end wires and redundant circuit paths. The computer-aided system has been in use for nearly two years at the University of Minnesota proton linear accelerator, which has a control wiring network containing about 10,000 wires. A complete set of record books can be worked out in about 18 minutes on a Control Data 1604 computer. Trouble-shooting, identification of wiring errors, and design of system additions all have benefited from the speed, convenience, and accuracy of the computer-aided system.