Gerard Lawler

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Museum of Destroyed or Damaged Parts (MODDP)


Here is a visual record of some damaged or destroyed parts as a pedegogical introduction to students new to experimental physics. Here brief discussion will be made with respect to the failure modes of certain equipment and safety protocals neccesary.

 

480V 60A Connector


Older models of high voltage high current connectors can often not be as well designed as current models. The older connector below had 1" lugs for attaching to the internal 3 phase connections. This was evidently not sufficient since excessive heating melted the plastic mounts leading to failure. The more recent model of the same connector instead uses 1.25" lugs for connection.


 

Microchannel Plate (MCP)


Microchannel plates exposed to air for extended periods of time can shatter due to excessive moisture in the air and must be kept in at least an inert gas environment like nitrogen if not under vacuum.


 

30A 250V Connector


Sometimes running equipment very close to the upper bound of specifications can be non-ideal. In this case a connector rated for 30A was run for several days pulling 25-28A. No issue during operation wer observed but the connector melted together and couldn't be unplugged so had to be removed and replaced with connectors with higher current ratings.