KEYWORDS: Actuators, Data storage, Reflectors, Relays, Control systems, Data acquisition, Photonic integrated circuits, LabVIEW, Computer programming, Process control
The 2225 actuators are the main and key control devices for the deformation control of FAST (Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope) reflector. The control behavior of the reflector deformation such as tracking and scanning, is implemented by the central coordination of the actuators. For each actuator, various operation state data should be uploaded to the monitoring center on time. The actuators are controlled from the upper computer in the control center and by the PLC in the relay room. OPC protocol is used in the acquisition and control process. OPC protocol is configured to set related variables. There are significant importance for the data acquisition of the actuators of FAST main reflector. The results can be used to analyze the life of the components of the actuator. They can also be used to monitor the operation status and to analyze the reason of failure, which may be of great help to the function extension, improvement and upgrading.
KEYWORDS: Reflectors, Actuators, Error analysis, Error control coding, Spherical lenses, Monte Carlo methods, Aluminum, Control systems, Telescopes, Radio telescopes
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is currently under construction at a Karst
depression in the Guizhou province of China. The active reflector of the telescope is composed of 4395 triangular panels
laid on a cable-net structure. The aperture of the spherical surface is 500 meters, with open angle of about 110~120
degrees. Acting as the nodes of the reflector, the joint of these panels are adjusted by 2235 down-tie cables drawn by
actuators. The RMS error of the parabola reflector is expected to be 5mm.
To form the parabola shape of the reflector, for each of the actuators, a minimal working stroke of 950mm is required,
with maximal speed of 1.6mm/s at the load of 50kN. Considering the elastic deformation of the down-tie cable and other
factors, a positioning error within 0.25mm is required for the actuators.
In this paper, the base formula for the motion of a general actuator at a typical observation time is studied analytically.
The results are used to estimate the control error of the actuators and the pointing error of the whole reflector. Based on
the designed error budgets, a statistical method is employed to estimate the overall surface error of the parabola reflector.
The overall surface error is a comprehensive result of the panel design error, panel fabrication error, thermal deformation
error, panel wind load induced error, cable-net error, installation error, measurement and control error etc. The results
may be used as a reference in the measurement and control of the active reflector when in operation.
Upon its completion, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) will be the largest single dish
radio telescope ever in the world. The construction has been initiated in March 2011 in Guizhou province of China. The
whole construction process is expected to be completed in September 2016, with duration of 5.5 years.
With an aperture of 500 meters and an illumination aperture of 300 meters, the active reflector is one of the most
important parts of FAST. The reflector is composed of a ring beam, a cable net and thousands of panels, tie-down cables,
actuators and anchors. For the observation process of source switching and source tracking, the parabola shape of the
reflector is achieved by drawing back of the tie-down cables by the actuators. The motion performance and the reliability
of the actuators are of great importance to the telescope.
In this paper, the motion models of the actuators are analyzed for the observation process of source switching and source
tracking. Several design schemes are proposed, including mechanical and hydraulic design. The electric, mechanical and
hydraulic characteristics of these designs are discussed. Related experimental studies are performed to investigate the
electric and mechanical performances of these actuator prototypes. Based on the analysis and test results, a final type of
actuator will be optimally concluded to meet the requirements of the reflector of FAST.
In order to study the impact of the thermal environment on the optical performance of the Ha and White light
telescope(HWT), a thermo-optical experimental system is built test the optical performance of the HWT under a thermal
vacuum condition. This system is made up of four sub-systems: an optical system to be tested, a vacuum system, a
temperature measurement and control system, and a wavefront sensing system. The temperature conditions of the
thermo-optical testing are designed on the basis of the measurement and numerical simulation of the ground observing
condition. An integrated STOP test based on the HWT is performed. The optical performances of the HWT under
different vacuum degree and different thermal control conditions are tested using the wavefront sensing system. The
results show that when the temperature of the secondary mirror is below 40°C, the optical performance of HWT is about
λ/8, which satisfies the requirement of λ/6. The secondary mirror structure is the most effect to the system optical
performance, which is the key part improving HWT. After the analytical model of HWT is set up by using the finite
element analysis software MSC.PATRAN/NASTRAN, finite element based optical analysis (FEMOPT) software is
used to calculate the optical performance. The comparison of the temperature control condition simulation and
experimental results show that FEMOPT optical structural thermal integral analysis is reasonable.
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