Development of the liquid level meters for the PandaX dark matter detector

The two-phase xenon detector is at the frontier of dark matter direct search. This kind of detector uses liquid xenon as the sensitive target and is operated in two-phase （liquid/gas） mode, where the liquid level needs to be monitored and controlled in sub-millimeter precision. In this paper, we present a detailed design and study of two kinds of level meters for the PandaX dark matter detector. The long level meter is used to monitor the overall liquid level while short level meters are used to monitor the inclination of the detector. These level meters are cylindrical capacitors that are custom-made from two concentric metal tubes. Their capacitance values are read out by a universal transducer interface chip and are recorded by the PandaX slow control system. We present the developments that lead to level meters with long-term stability and sub-millimeter precision. Fluctuations （standard deviations） of less than 0.02 mm for the short level meters and less than 0.2 mm for the long level meter were achieved during a few days of test operation.

Liquid nitrogen level meter for high-temperature superconductor (HTS)

Many kinds of high temperature superconductor （HTS） power machines such as HTS cable, HTS fault current limitcr and HTS magnet are cooled by liquid nitrogen. The level of liquid nitrogen should be monitored and controlled to ensure the thermal stability and the dielectric strength as well. To measure the level, capacitance method and differential pressure method are usually used. However, each method has installation difficulties and measurement errors for unsteady state operation with varying system pressure. A new liquid level meter using a 2G HTS conductor is described, which has similar structure with the liquid helium level meter with NbTi filament. The level meter is fabricated with a parallel connected heater, which helps the separation of the superconducting region and normal region, considering the critical temperature, large heat capacity of conductor and cooling characteristics. The level of liquid nitrogen can be obtained from the measured voltage signal along the 2G HTS conductor. Design, fabrication and test results of the new liquid nitrogen level meter are presented.

Co-seismic changes of well water level and volume strain meter in capital area and its vicinity,due to the Nov.14,2001 Ms8.1 Kunlun Mountain earthquake,China

The Kunlunshan Mountain Ms8.1 earthquake, occurred in Nov.14, 2001, is the first event with magnitude more than 8 in the China earthquake monitoring history, specifically at the beginning of digital techniques in precursor monitoring networks. Any investigation of recorded data on this earthquake is very important for testing the operation of the digital monitoring networks and understanding the preparation, occurrence, and adjustment of stress/strain of strong continental earthquakes. In this paper we investigated the coseismic response changes of well water level of groundwater and volume strain meter of bore hole in digital earthquake monitoring network of Capital area and its vicinity, due to the Nov.14, 2001 Ms8.1 Kunlun Mountain earthquake. The responding time, shapes or manners, amplitudes, and lasting time of well water level and strain-meters to seismic wave are studied in comparison. Then we discussed the possibility that the response changes of groundwater to strong distant earthquakes can be understood as one kind of observing evidence of stress/strain changes induced by distant earthquake.

Novel attitude determination method by integration of electronic level meter,INS,and low-cost turntable for level attitude evaluation and calibration of INS

Attitude references are greatly needed for the evaluation and calibration of Inertial Navigation Systems(INSs),which are widely used in gravimeter,marine,and aeronautical navigation.High-accuracy turntable,INS,and Global Navigation Satellite System have been utilized to verify the performance of relatively low-accuracy INS.The accuracy requirement of the attitude reference continuously increases with the rapid improvement of inertial sensors and navigation algorithms.However,the cost of attitude determination system increases rapidly with the increase of attitude accuracy requirement.To solve this limitation,the integration of level meter,INS,and low-cost turntable is proposed to provide level attitude,such as roll and pitch.The turntable is utilized to rotate the INS.An integration model of the level meter and INS is built to estimate the level attitude and reduce the cost of the turntable.The proposed method successfully avoids the dependence on high-accuracy turntables.An observability degree analysis is conducted to improve the level atti-tude accuracy further.The simulation and turntable test results indicate that the proposed method can provide high-accuracy level attitude without high-accuracy INS or turntable and is applicable to error calibration and attitude evaluation of INS.