[time-nuts] Cold Rubidium?

[Magnus Danielson]

Hi,

On 2019-11-08 03:15, Hal Murray wrote:
> p.boven at xs4all.nl said:
>> We were seriously considering the Muquans clock for a radio astronomy
>> project. However, the company explained that the device has to be  returned
>> every 3 to 5 years for re-filling. Given the very remote  location we were
>> going to put these in, that was out of the question for us. 
> What's the MTBF of that sort of gear?  How often can you repair it on site?
For both vendors, I think it is very hard to have any form of realistic
numbers until a number of devices have been running for some time at
customers.
> Did you ask about a larger container for whatever needs re-filling?
It can involve other things than "re-filling", thus it can be a more
involved process and it might be that they have yet to adapt the product
and procedures to field replacement. For new products such things take
time, and that did not really work out so well for most vendors when
they started with that product range, so it can be hard to meet such
requirements early out. This is why it is hard to break into the
industry. You are compared to those that have been in the industry for
decades.
> How big is the unit?  Is whatever needs re-filling removable so you don't have 
> to ship the whole thing?  (I'm assuming that you have to swap out technicians 
> occasionally so there is occasional transportation to the remote sites.)
>
>
The Muquans is about the size of an active hydrogen maser, somewhat
larger than most, so think about a half-rack or so. The other is
smaller, but would take about 1/3 of a rack (possibly two side by side),
so comparable to a passive maser or cesium beam.

Cheers,
Magnus