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Jim McKinley
Product Publicity
610-889-5234
pr.contact@ametek.com
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SOLARTRON METROLOGY PROBES IMPROVE THE SIGHT OF WORLD'S MOST ADVANCED RADIO TELESCOPE
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Release Date: Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Contact: David Börner + 44 (0) 1243 833 407
BOGNOR REGIS, WEST SUSSEX, ENGLAND— Solarton Metrology (www.solartronmetrology.com) was selected by Vertex Antennentechnik GmbH to custom design dimensional gauging probes for the 25 antennas it is providing to the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) astronomical observatory under development high in the Chilean Andes. The array site is located at 16,500 feet above sea level, where temperatures can drop to -20oC. In addition to the cold, the antennas are subjected to high winds, vibration and other stresses that less robust probes were not able to handle.
The probes are a critical element of a temperature compensation system used to maintain the accuracy of the project’s multiple antenna array and are used to compensate for changes in the shape of the project’s 12-meter diameter antennas due to the warming effect of sunlight. The probes feed information back to a control unit that adjusts antenna positions continuously.
Solartron Metrology was selected for the robust design, high accuracy and repeatability of its precision dimensional gauging probes that were specifically designed to meet the demanding conditions found atop Chile’s Chanjnator Plateau. The easy to mount and maintain probes feature a special silicon gaiter and PFA-jacketed cable to handle the low temperatures and rugged operating conditions.
“ALMA’s antennas are technological marvels,” notes Thijs de Graauw, ALMA Director. “They are more precise and more capable than any ever made. Their performance in the harsh winds and temperatures of our high-altitude site bodes well for the observatory’s future.”
The antennas have surfaces accurate to less than the thickness of a human hair and are able to be pointed precisely enough to pick out an object the size of a golf ball from a distance of nearly 10 miles. The antennas will have reconfigurable baselines ranging from 15 meters to 16 kilometers and achieve resolutions as fine as 0.005 arcseconds at the shortest wavelengths-a factor of 10 better than the Hubble Space Telescope.
When completed early in the next decade, the ALMA project will have a total of 66 antennas provided by partners from North America, Europe and Asia and be the leading astronomical instrument for observing the cool Universe—the molecular gases and particles that constitute the building blocks of the planets, stars and galaxies. ALMA will combine signals from the antennas spread across the desert and synthesize them with the effective sharpness of a single gigantic antenna.
The North American ALMA partners, led by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, are providing 25 antennas designed by Vertex Antennentechnik for the global radio-antenna array. The remaining antennas will be provided by ALMA partners in Europe and Japan.
Vertex Antennentechnik (www.vertexant.de) is a leader in satellite communications, offering a variety of satellite communications products and services.
Solartron Metrology is the world’s leader in “pencil” style electronic gauging probes and a leading manufacturer of dimensional gauging probes, displacement transducers, optical linear encoders and associated instrumentation. It also is a unit of AMETEK, Inc., a leading global manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices with annualized sales of $3.0 billion.
For more information, contact Solartron Metrology, 915 N. New Hope Road, Suite C, Gastonia, NC 28054. Tel: 800-873-5838. E-mail: usasales@solartronmetrology.com Website: www.solartronmetrology.com
Click here for a hi-res image of the Solartron dimensional gauge probe used on the ALMA radio telescope
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