3 Replies to “The UltimaIII is down on 7/9/2014 and up on 8/13/2014”

  1. All XRD Users:

    As you know, the UltimaIII had much down-time in last two years. These down-time was only due to the CBO beam unstable intensity. We had worked closely with Rigaku Service Engineers to solve this issue in last two years.

    The major diagnosis/test events for the UltimaIII are briefly listed below:
    • July/Aug 2012: the CBO peak intensity issue was observed. The CBO alignment had to be perform each month.
    • Aug 2012–March 2013: We kept reporting the issues each month to Rigaku; But could not get good feedback from Rigaku about this issue.
    • March 2013–Nov. 2013: Rigaku techs visited LEXI and worked on the issues; the SC detector and XG generator power cable and x-ray tube were replaced and tested. In addition, the CBO unit was dissembled and checked.
    • Dec. 2013 –March 2014: the CBO unit was uninstalled and shipped to Japan for repair. But the issue still existed after the CBO was repaired and installed back on the UltimaIII.
    • July 2014: Rigaku Engineer Nao M. visited LEXI for testing and repairing the UltimaIII. However, the 2theta-D servo was down during testing. The repairmen had to be delayed until 2theta-D servo was replaced with a new one first.
    • Aug 2014: The 2theta-D servo was replaced and fixed. The new X-ray tube, new SC detector and its PCB were installed on the UltimaIII.

    The UltimaIII is working well with good intensity so far. Please feel free to sign up for the UltimaIII and use it. I will watch out the UltimaIII performance these months. We hope that the UltiamIII Issue is solved this time.

    Thank you,

    Qiyin

  2. The UltimaIII is up now. Rigaku Service Engineer visited LEXI this week and replaced some key parts at the UltimaIII with the new ones, including new X-ray tube, new SC Detector, etc.

    Please be noticed that the current x-ray tube at UltimaIII generates the same Cu Ka radiation, but it is a NEW type of x-ray tube with it MAX power: 40kV; 30mA. This is different from previous tube with the max power of 40kV and 44 mA.

    Please let me know if you have questions.

  3. Hi, All XRD users,

    The Rigaku service engineer came to LEXI on this Monday, and will work on the UltimaIII for entire this week until the issues are solved.

    By now, the 2theta-D drive issue has been fixed and the 2theta arm works well now. The service engineer continued to troubleshoot the previous intensity issue.

    I will keep you updated on the progress.

    Thank you,

    Qiyin

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