[Sneap] NIM module vendors

[Howard Evans]

Hello SNEAPers!

Most folks here know that NIMs (or Nuclear Instrumentation Modules) are just about the most expensive way to do anything electronic. If they once had any saving grace it was reliability. Unfortunately, they are aimed at a closed market, the nuclear power industry, that has it's own set of mandates and agendas. That makes NIMs relatively expensive compared to, say, a VME (VERSABUS Motorola European) solution.

First time I saw a NIM (a multi-channel analyzer, thirty-something years ago, if I recall correctly), I was amazed that anyone could cram what usually required a 5-1/4" high by 19" wide, rack-mounted, chassis into a little plug-in card only about 1.35" wide by 8-3/4" tall. It did need an external power supply, but so what? You could replace a tall rack (or bench top) full of equipment with a dozen modules stuffed into one little NIM-BIN crate... for Big Buck$, maybe $50,000 or so, depending on what kind of exotic signal conditioning you needed. As for computer control and data acquisition, a step up to a CAMAC crate offered a built-in data bus and I think there were IEEE-488 interfaces available for that. It would also accept NIMs with an adapter. Later, VME crates with 68000 CPU "blade processors" were a big winner, but I don't think any of them ever accepted a NIM. You ran analog signals from the NIM crate over shielded cables to A-to-D converters in the CAMAC or VME crate.

Depending on what you need to control, and the kind of data you need to acquire, a more modern distributed approach using Ethernet connections (wired and wireless) could be more attractive. Unless you are trying to replicate a "tried and true" solution someone else put together years (decades?) ago, I would not pursue the NIM approach to data acquisition and control. Instead, grab a EE grad student (who minored in computer science) and let her (or him) design your system from scratch using inexpensive off-the-shelf components.

However, if you are determined, there is a lot of surplus NIM and CAMAC stuff available for sale on the World Wide Web via the Internet. Most of it is probably in good condition, removed from working equipment that became obsolete, but caveat emptor for E-Bay purchases. Ortec is what I would look for, and then call to make sure it is still serviced by Ortec.

Here at work, we held on for many years to some NIMs and two NIM-BIN crates that were used for RBS, PIXE, and accelerator energy calibration. Bias supplies, fast-pulse pre-amps, scalers, counters, that kind of stuff. Unfortunately, 8" floppy disks for the PDP-11 based data acquisition system became hard to come by, and then DEC support evaporated. Manuals eventually got lost, people left the company who knew what it was all about, and the stuff became "quaint" as in "I can't believe they used to do it that way!" Almost all of it went into the Dumpster a few years ago to make shelf space for more "stuff," sooner or later to also be named "quaint."

Howard

******************************************************
Howard B. Evans, Jr.
Engineer, Materials Laboratory
UES, Inc.
4401 Dayton-Xenia Road
Dayton OH  45432-1894

937-426-6900 ext. 116 (office and voice mail) or ext. 121 (lab)
937-426-5718 fax

hevans at ues.com e-mail
http://www.ues.com web site

"Things should be explained as simple as
possible, but not simpler." -- A. Einstein

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-----Original Message-----
From: sneap-bounces at tunl.duke.edu [mailto:sneap-bounces at tunl.duke.edu]On
Behalf Of Michael Lestinsky
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 3:00 PM
To: sneap at tunl.duke.edu
Subject: [Sneap] NIM module vendors


Hello,

I am prensently developing a control and data aqcuisition system for a
new experiment in our group and we need various NIM electronics modules.
I've found various vendors and would like to get some feedback or
experiences from you. (I've browsed the archive for the last three
months and didn't see anything related)

Is anyone here familiar with CAEN, Ortec or Phillips Scientific? How
would you rate their quality of products and service?

Thanks,
Michael

-- 
Michael Lestinsky			Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory
E-Mail: lestinsky at astro.columbia.edu	550 West 120th Street, MC 5247
Office: +1 212 854 8017			New York, NY 10027		
Fax:    +1 212 854 8121
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