Infrastructure Controls Integration at ESS

The European Spallation Source (ESS) project is starting the construction of buildings June 2014. When the access to linac tunnel and gallery building is ready, the commissioning of the first sections of the accelerator starts. A proper operation of the machine relies on the services provided by different infrastructure systems (water cooling, electrical power system, ventilation, etc.) These systems will be used long before beam operation starts and need to be operated via the Integrated Control System (ICS) from the Control Room. Due to the number and variety of these systems, their heterogeneous characteristics and the different teams of designers, the integration process into ICS is challenging. Experience in other facilities [2,3] shows that a late integration produces higher maintenance and operation costs, and even impact on the reliability of the machine. This paper presents the strategy developed by two partners, the Controls and Conventional Facilities Division (CF). It is planned to capture the requirements for the interfaces and to ensure an early integration of Infrastructure Systems into the EPICS environment. First results of this approach are shown for some systems.