Primary Mirror Support System Research Articles

Quantitative feedback controller design and test for an electro-hydraulic position control system in a large-scale reflecting telescope

For the primary mirror of a large-scale telescope, an electro-hydraulic position control system (EHPCS) is used in the primary mirror support system. The EHPCS helps the telescope improve imaging quality and requires a micron-level position control capability with a high convergence rate, high tracking accuracy, and stability over a wide mirror cell rotation region. In addition, the EHPCS parameters vary across different working conditions, thus rendering the system nonlinear. In this paper, we propose a robust closed-loop design for the position control system in a primary hydraulic support system. The control system is synthesized based on quantitative feedback theory. The parameter bounds are defined by system modeling and identified using the frequency response method. The proposed controller design achieves robust stability and a reference tracking performance by loop shaping in the frequency domain. Experiment results are included from the test rig for the primary mirror support system, showing the effectiveness of the proposed control design.

大口径望远镜主镜支撑系统装调

According to 1.2 m large aperture telescope primary mirror support system, an effective assembly method was advanced to insure the root-mean-square (RMS) of the surface accuracy. The primary mirror support system was designed following kinematic principle. To achieve excellent performance of the RMS of primary mirror surface accuracy at different ambient temperature (from -20℃ to 60℃) and different elevation(from vertical to horizontal), whiffletree structure were used for axial support,while lateral support mechanisms based on flexible tangent link structure were adopted. Resulting from machining error and installation error of the flexible structures, assembly stress was presented certainly, that could increase primary mirror distortion range evidently. By the finite element analysis(FEA) simulation, the effects of various errors were calculated. According to simulation results, assembly processes were established. After assembly of primary mirror support system, the RMS of primary mirror surface accuracy was measured by compensator and laser interferometer. In measurement, the RMS of surface accuracy was /42 and /31(=632.8 nm), when optical axis of primary mirror was vertical and horizontal.

Hybrid optimization methodology of variable densities mesh model for the axial supporting design of wide-field survey telescope

The optimization of a primary mirror support system is one of the most critical problems in the design of large telescopes. Here, we propose a hybrid optimization methodology of variable densities mesh model (HOMVDMM) for the axial supporting design, which has three key steps: (1) creating a variable densities mesh model, which will partition the mirror into several sparse mesh areas and several dense mesh areas; (2) global optimization based on the zero-order optimization method for the support of primary mirror with a large tolerance; (3) based on the optimization results of the second step, further optimization with first-order optimization method in dense mesh areas by a small tolerance. HOMVDMM exploits the complementary merits of both the zero- and first-order optimizations, with the former in global scale and the latter in small scale. As an application, the axial support of the primary mirror of the 2.5-m wide-field survey telescope (WFST) is optimized by HOMVDMM. These three designs are obtained via a comparative study of different supporting points including 27 supporting points, 39 supporting points, and 54 supporting points. Their residual half-path length errors are 28.78, 9.32, and 5.29 nm. The latter two designs both meet the specification of WFST. In each of the three designs, a global optimization value with high accuracy will be obtained in an hour on an ordinary PC. As the results suggest, the overall performance of HOMVDMM is superior to the first-order optimization method as well as the zero-order optimization method.

Active optics primary mirror support system for the 26m VST telescope

The Very Large Telescope Survey Telescope (VST) is equipped with an active optics system in order to correct low-order aberrations. The 2.6 m primary mirror is supported both axially and laterally and is surrounded by several safety devices for earthquake protection. We describe the mirror support system and discuss the results of the qualification test campaign.