Automated wire tension measurement system for LHCb muon chambers

A wire tension meter has been developed for the multi-wire proportional chambers of the LHCb muon detector. The wire tension is deduced from its mechanical resonance frequency. In the LHCb muon chambers, the wires are 2 mm apart and electrically connected in groups of 3-32, so that the wire excitation system must be precisely positioned with respect to the wire to be tested. This wire is forced to oscillate by a periodic high voltage applied between that wire and a non-oscillating “sense wire” placed parallel and close to it. This oscillation produces a variation of the capacitance between these two wires which is measured by a high precision digital electronic circuit. At the resonance frequency this capacitance variation is maximum. The system has been systematically investigated and its parameters were optimized. In the range 0.4-1 N a good agreement is found between the mechanical tension measured by this system and by a dynamometer.