Paper
18 August 2016 SALT tracker upgrade utilizing aerospace processes and procedures
Raoul van den Berg, Chris Coetzee, Ockert Strydom, Janus Brink, Keith Browne, Eben Wiid, Wouter Lochner, Grant Nelson, Paul Rabe, Martin Wilkinson, Vic Moore, Adelaide Malan, Jonathan Love, Anthony Koeslag
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
The SALT Tracker was originally designed to carry a payload of approximately 1000 kg. The current loading exceeds 1300 kg and more instrumentation, for example, the Near-Infrared (NIR) arm of the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS), is being designed for the telescope. In general, provision also had to be made to expand the envelope of the tracker payload carrying capacity for future growth as some of the systems on SALT are currently running with small safety margins. It was therefore decided to upgrade the SALT Tracker to be able to carry a payload of 1875 kg.

Before the project "Kick-Off" it became evident that neither SALT nor SAAO had the required standard of formal processes and procedures to execute a project of this nature. The Project Management, Mechanical Design and Review processes and procedures were adopted from the Aerospace Industry and tailored for our application. After training the project team in the application of these processes/procedures and gaining their commitment, the Tracker Upgrade Project was "Kicked-Off" in early May 2013.

The application of these aerospace-derived processes and procedures, as used during the Tracker Upgrade Project, were very successful as is shown in this paper where the authors also highlight some of the details of the implemented processes and procedures as well as specific challenges that needed to be met while executing a project of this nature and technical complexity.
© (2016) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Raoul van den Berg, Chris Coetzee, Ockert Strydom, Janus Brink, Keith Browne, Eben Wiid, Wouter Lochner, Grant Nelson, Paul Rabe, Martin Wilkinson, Vic Moore, Adelaide Malan, Jonathan Love, and Anthony Koeslag "SALT tracker upgrade utilizing aerospace processes and procedures", Proc. SPIE 9911, Modeling, Systems Engineering, and Project Management for Astronomy VII, 99111J (18 August 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2231559
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KEYWORDS
Computer aided design

Manufacturing

Mechanical engineering

Design for manufacturability

Actuators

Inspection

Aerospace engineering

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