Cover and Transport Tests – August 2015
During the week 5-8 August 2015, the LN team executed some essential (and occasionally dramatic) tests of the instrument cover and hardware for transport and installation.
This slide show features some of the highlights of this four-day campaign. Click the arrows to see eacah of the 21 pictures and consult the text below for further details.
Dust Cover
The LINC-NIRVANA warm optics occupy what is essentially a large (11 square meter) optical bench located approximately 2.5 meters above the instrument platform. In order to protect its sensitive components, LN has a large dust cover that will be integrated with the main instrument at LBT. In preparation for that, and because the instrument is too large for MPIA facilities, the team did a fit check of the cover to the bench using a mobile crane.
Lifting Traverse
Making the journey from the mountain lab to the telescope itself may be perilous. The clearance between LN and the walls of the hatch to the telescope chamber is only 20 mm. To execute this delicate maneuver, the team designed a custom lifting traverse that allows exquisite control of the center of balance, yet does not increase the instrument envelope. To ensure a perfect fit, welding of the interface plates took place with the traverse assembled and in position.
Instrument Rollers
With a total weight exceeding 10 tonnes, LINC-NIRVANA must be manipulated with a high-capacity crane. There are three such cranes at LBT: in the mountain lab, high bay, and telescope chamber. Unfortunately, the "footprints" of these cranes do not overlap, and we must roll the instrument from place to place within the fixed enclosure. To accomplish this (and to avoid floor damage), the team has procured large, solid rubber, steerable rollers. However (and as has often happened), the MPIA building and internal crane were too small to integrate and test the rollers indoors. The cover and lifting traverse tests provided the ideal opportunity to verify the rollers as well.