ICALEPCS 2009
THP054
OPC at Jefferson Lab
D.M.Wetherholt* (JLAB)
Many accelerator devices, such as magnet power supplies and klystrons, require cooling and temperature regulation using low-conductivity water (LCW). Despite its high reliability, variability in Jefferson Lab's LCW supply system has occasionally had an impact on accelerator operations. To help identify issues early, and correlate temperature variation with operational issues, it is desirable to integrate LCW status information with the accelerator control system. Honeywell is providing access to the LCW signals via an EBI OPC Data Access Server. OPC (OLE for Process Control) is based on OLE (Object Linking and Embedding), COM, and DCOM and provides a standard for the communication of real-time data between control devices from different manufacturers. The most logical pathway for implementation is to use existing EPICS driver support that impacts the control system software and support staff in supporting the EPICS Windows platform. We plan to use this initial implementation as a base interface to systems from other vendors. The following discusses the implementation options and our experience integrating an OPC-based third-party system with an EPICS-based control system.
* OPC Device Support 3.5, Winkler, Kunar. Http://www-csr.bessy.ded/control/SoftDist/OPCsupport** Honeywell: Setting up a Third-Party OPC Client or Server.