Submission Type
Poster
Start Date
April 2020
Abstract
For an American Physical Society funded physics outreach project, fifteen Cosmic Watch cosmic ray muon detectors, designed at MIT, are being assembled by students at Geneseo. Over the summer of 2020, ten detectors will be deployed around Letchworth State Park to educate park visitors about cosmic rays. The muon detection rate and cumulative count are displayed on a small OLED screen, with an LED flashing every time a muon passes through the detector’s scintillator. Each incidence is also logged to a micro SD card. Customized open-source software was used to allow the OLED and SD card to work simultaneously. The detectors will be placed in clear plastic enclosures during deployment in the Park. The batteries and SD cards will be replaced each week. To prepare the detectors for deployment to the outdoors, modifications have been made to the original Cosmic Watch design. Each detector will be powered by its own lithium-ion battery. However, the power draw of the detector is below the threshold of most Li batteries, and this causes the battery to turn itself off. Detector hardware has been modified to generate repeated current pulses to keep the battery active. After September, the detectors will be redeployed elsewhere.
Recommended Citation
Seitz, Kevin, "285— Modifications of Cosmic Watch Muon Detectors for Deployment at Letchworth State Park" (2020). GREAT Day Posters. 99.
https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/great-day-symposium/great-day-2020/posters-2020/99
Included in
285— Modifications of Cosmic Watch Muon Detectors for Deployment at Letchworth State Park
For an American Physical Society funded physics outreach project, fifteen Cosmic Watch cosmic ray muon detectors, designed at MIT, are being assembled by students at Geneseo. Over the summer of 2020, ten detectors will be deployed around Letchworth State Park to educate park visitors about cosmic rays. The muon detection rate and cumulative count are displayed on a small OLED screen, with an LED flashing every time a muon passes through the detector’s scintillator. Each incidence is also logged to a micro SD card. Customized open-source software was used to allow the OLED and SD card to work simultaneously. The detectors will be placed in clear plastic enclosures during deployment in the Park. The batteries and SD cards will be replaced each week. To prepare the detectors for deployment to the outdoors, modifications have been made to the original Cosmic Watch design. Each detector will be powered by its own lithium-ion battery. However, the power draw of the detector is below the threshold of most Li batteries, and this causes the battery to turn itself off. Detector hardware has been modified to generate repeated current pulses to keep the battery active. After September, the detectors will be redeployed elsewhere.
Comments
Funded in part by the American Physical Society. Faculty sponsors Dr. Kurt Fletcher and Dr. George Marcus. Software source used for detectors: https://github.com/jgOhYeah/NonOfficial-StuffForCosmicWatchMuonDetectors