https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-023-04647-1
Regular Article
Sealed (zero gas flow) resistive plate chambers
1
Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas (LIP), Departamento de Física da Universidade de Coimbra, 3004-516, Coimbra, Portugal
2
Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra, Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Coimbra, Rua Pedro Nunes, 3030-199, Coimbra, Portugal
3
Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas (LIP), Av. Professor Gama Pinto, n. 2, Complexo Interdisciplinar (3is), 1649-003, Lisbon, Portugal
4
Departamento de Física, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida Rovisco Pais, n. 1, 1049-001, Lisbon, Portugal
a
alberto@coimbra.lip.pt
c
luisalberto@coimbra.lip.pt
Received:
28
July
2023
Accepted:
31
October
2023
Published online:
16
November
2023
The phase-out of hydro-fluorocarbons, due to their high Global Warming Potential (GWP), affecting the main gas used in Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs), tetrafluoroethane C
HF
, has increased pressure on existing systems and imposes strong restrictions on its use in new systems. A possible solution to the problem is the substitution of this gas by others with a much lower GWP. Another possibility would be sealed RPCs, i.e., RPCs that do not require a continuous gas flow for their operation. This paper shows the construction structure and test results of a sealed multi-gap RPC operated without gas flow for about 1 year. The results show a stable efficiency of more than 95% and a streamer percentage of less than 1%. The spatial distribution of the hits, the mean charge and the probability of streamers do not reveal significant structures. Similarly, they do not seem to be dependent on operating time.
© The Author(s) 2023
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