Analysis of compact and sealed RPCs feasibility

Abstract

In this article, the feasibility of developing compact and portable float glass sealed Resistive Plate Chambers, sRPCs, is analyzed. For this purpose, several small (80 cm2) sealed chambers have beenconstructed using inexpensive materials like windows float glass,copper tape and nylon fishing line. For the sake of simplicity,during this first development stage, only R134a has been used asionizing gas.In order to distinguish gas leakage from internal gas degradation, acouple of sRPCs were tested inside a box with flowing gas: one withR134a and another with N2. Prompt charge, signal rising slope andoperational current were used to assess chambers performancedegradation during a two-week period. Regarding these variables,small leakages were spotted as the main reason for the performancedegradation observed after about one week of steady operation at thesRPC working in N2 environment. The sRPC working in an R134aenvironment did not show any significative degradation during thewhole test. A discussion on merits and limitations of the proposeddesign is provided.