A Telescope Drive With Emphasis On Stability

Robert H. Hammerschlag

doi:10.1117/12.937970

3 November 1983 A Telescope Drive With Emphasis On Stability

Robert H. Hammerschlag

Proceedings Volume 0444, Advanced Technology Optical Telescopes II; (1983) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.937970
Event: 1983 Astronomy Conferences, 1983, London, United Kingdom

Abstract

A solar telescope, which consists of an open steel framework, is under construction. The telescope will operate without a dome in order to improve the local seeing. The telescope drives should be stable against the fluctuating wind forces. Calculations indicate that conventional gear drives show too much torsional and bending flexibility in the shaft of the pinion. In addition, the stability requires line contact between the teeth of meshing gears under a relatively low load, which requires an extremely good alignment of the gears. A new gear design is presented in which the pinion of the first gear stage and a pair of wheels of the second stage form a single block, which can rotate about a self-aligning spherical roller bearing. The line contacts between the teeth of the first and second gear stage, in combination with the spherical roller bearing, form a statically determinate system for this single block. In this way line contact between the gear stages is guaranteed and the single-block construction minimizes the torsional deflection. A shaft through the spherical roller bearing would bend too strongly. This problem is solved by a special shaft design, which incorporates the bearing in the shaft construction. The described design may be of interest for future large telescopes because it reduces the telescope vibrations caused by wind buffeting.

Citation Download Citation

Robert H. Hammerschlag "A Telescope Drive With Emphasis On Stability", Proc. SPIE 0444, Advanced Technology Optical Telescopes II, (3 November 1983); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.937970

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