UKIRT Upgrades Program: control of the telescope thermal environment

Charles P. Cavedoni; Timothy G. Hawarden; Timothy C. Chuter; Ivan A. Look

doi:10.1117/12.269097

21 March 1997 UKIRT Upgrades Program: control of the telescope thermal environment

Charles P. Cavedoni, Timothy G. Hawarden, Timothy C. Chuter, Ivan A. Look

Proceedings Volume 2871, Optical Telescopes of Today and Tomorrow; (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.269097
Event: Optical Telescopes of Today and Tomorrow, 1996, Landskrona/Hven, Sweden

Abstract

The control of the telescope thermal environment at the 3.8-m United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) is based on the requirements that dome seeing should not degrade the image quality by more than 0.05 arcsec (FWHM) and that mirror seeing should be reduced to negligible proportions. After quantifying steady state and transient heat flow around and through the building, we set out on a program to meet these requirements. Major telescope enclosure upgrades to address dome seeing include natural dome ventilation with 16 apertures in the base of the dome and for near still-air nights, forced-air ventilation via the plant room exhaust system. To address mirror seeing, we are in the process of installing a day-time mirror cooling system that can drive and/or keep the primary mirror between 0 degrees Celsius and 2.5 degrees Celsius colder than the predicted night-time local dome air temperature. Nevertheless, during the night, if the primary mirror is warmer than the local dome air, a flushing system is available to blow away warm convective air cells as they form. This paper describes design considerations of the natural dome ventilation system (DVS), the hardware of the primary mirror cooling and flushing system and the performance of the mirror flushing system on a dummy mirror segment.

Citation Download Citation

Charles P. Cavedoni, Timothy G. Hawarden, Timothy C. Chuter, and Ivan A. Look "UKIRT Upgrades Program: control of the telescope thermal environment", Proc. SPIE 2871, Optical Telescopes of Today and Tomorrow, (21 March 1997); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.269097

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