Owens Valley Radio Observatory

Overview

The Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) is the largest university-operated radio astronomy observatory in the world, and is located near Bishop, California, approximately 400 km (250 miles) north of Los Angeles on the east side of the Sierra Nevada. Dynamic Structures was contracted by the California Institute of Technology to manufacture and assemble three high precision mounts that would allow smooth and accurate positioning of a 12-meter diameter radio antenna dish. Each antenna mount included a drive control system for positioning the antenna in both azimuth and elevation axis.

For more information on OVRO see http://www.ovro.caltech.edu/

Challenge

Each drive mount is assembled from a group of machined fabrications, and these fabrications have to be machined to close tolerances relative to geometric datums. It was extremely important that the main bearing locations and drive mechanisms be accurately positioned. The off-axis loading requires that the drive mount be extremely rigid but also allow smooth accurate rotation in both axis.

Solution

All of the weldments were fabricated to close tolerances and then thermally stress relieved prior to machining. All machining was performed on the completed weldment and this included the trunnion mount and main azimuth bearing support. To ensure concentricity of the azimuth bearing ring, the inner cone weldment and bearing ring were pre-assembled and finish ground as a unit. The elevation trunnion mount bearing diameters were also machined at the same setting to ensure parallelism and concentricity.

Outcome

Each antenna mount was completely assembled and tested prior to shipping. The drive controls on both the azimuth and elevation were powered up to simulate normal operation. The alignment, accuracy and rotation of all moving parts was checked and found to be well within the specification requirements for antenna operation.

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