Bibcode
Canchado, Manuel; Romero, Antonio; Maroto, Óscar; Tomas, Albert; Martín-Nuño, Carlos; Casalta, Joan Manel; Prida, Joaquín.; Aguerri, J. A. L.; Herreros, J. M.; Delgado, J. M.; Alonso Burgal, J.; Abrams, Don Carlos; Dee, Kevin; Dalton, Gavin; Bonifacio, Piercarlo; Trager, Scott C.; Vallenari, Antonella
Bibliographical reference
Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 9912, id. 99126D 15 pp. (2016).
Advertised on:
7
2016
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
WEAVE is a new wide-field spectroscopy facility proposed for the prime
focus of the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope (WHT), placed in La Palma,
Canary Islands, Spain. To allow for the compensation of the effects of
temperature-induced and gravity-induced image degradation, the WEAVE
prime focus assembly will be translated along the telescope optical
axis. The assembly comprises the prime focus corrector with integrated
ADC, a central mount for the corrector, an instrument rotator and a
twin-focal-plane fibre positioner. Translation is accomplished through
the use of a set of purpose-built actuators; collectively referred to as
the Focus Translation System (FTS), formed by four
independently-controlled Focus Translation Units (FTUs), eight vanes
connecting the FTUs to a central can, and a central can hosting WEAVE
Instrument. Each FTU is capable of providing a maximum stroke of +/-4mm
with sufficient, combined force to move the five-tonne assembly with a
positional accuracy of +/-20μm at a resolution of 5μm. The
coordinated movement of the four FTUs allows +/-3mm WEAVE focus
adjustment in the optical axis and +/-0.015° tilt correction in one
axis. The control of the FTS is accomplished through a PLC-based
subsystem that receives positional demands from the higher-level
Instrument Control System. SENER has been responsible for designing,
manufacturing and testing the FTS and the equipment required to
manipulate and store the FTS together with the instrument. This
manuscript describes the final design of the FTS along with the analyses
and simulations that were performed, discusses the manufacturing
procedures and the results of early verification prior to integration
with the telescope. The plans for mounting the whole system on the
telescope are also discussed.