Lessons learned from the first ALMA antenna overhauls

M Gallilee ,Cristobal Jara,Alexis Alfaro,Art Symmes,Stefan Gairing,Juan Millar,Victor Lopehandia,Antonio Hales,Hector Marroquin,Pablo Bello,Fabiola Cruzat,Octavio Hernandez,Massimiliano Marchesi,N Mizuno ,M Radiszcz ,Roberto Price ,Juan Pablo Romero Cortés ,Francisco M González ,Rodrigo Cabezas ,Kurt Plarre ,C López ,Ricardo Hernandez Arriaza ,Pablo Carrillo ,Gerardo Gómez ,Borja Sepúlveda ,Sergio González Martín ,C Zapata

doi:10.1117/12.2561367

Abstract

The first Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) antennas were inaugurated during 2009 at the facility in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. The requirement from the original ALMA specification was that antennas shall have a minimum of 10 years between major maintenance (overhauls); therefore the first antennas now require refurbishment at the ALMA technical facility. Refurbishment of the antennas was mainly focused on corrosion and sealing repair, drive system components analysis and exchange, cleaning, control system maintenance, and exchanging several electrical components. ALMA also used the opportunity of the overhaul to make some antenna improvements based on experience from operations. This paper will present the lessons learned from the first overhauls, the planning process, changes from the original manufacturer requirements, the checkout process, and some expected hurdles for future overhauls. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA

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