From lserna at aoc.nrao.edu Thu Mar 24 12:33:39 2005 From: lserna at aoc.nrao.edu (Lew Serna) Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 10:33:39 -0700 Subject: [Escoordminutes] ES Division Coordination Mtg. Minutes-- March Message-ID: <4242F9F3.5000004@aoc.nrao.edu> Please review meeting minutes and let me know of changes, deletions, additions and corrections by tomorrow morning. L Serna Minutes for the ES Division Coordination Meeting held on Tuesday, March 22, 2005, at 10 am, in the LL CB conference room. Attending were Eric Carlowe, Ramon Gutierrez, Lew Serna, Pat Lewis, Mark McKinnon, Guy Stanzione, Bob Broilo, James Sullivan, Jim Ruff, Tom Frost and Jon Thunborg. BUDGET Serna? In an effort to compensate for a flat budget and eliminate the need for involuntary layoffs, a voluntary retirement for eligible employees has been initiated. Eligible personnel in ES Division who are interested in the voluntary retirement should contact L Serna or Human Resources. Efforts such as cutting the travel budget, postponing merit increases, reducing personnel through reorganization and attrition are also in effect. We are still operating under the premise of having 80% of our "normal" (last years) budget. Restrict spending to urgent purchases until the budget is known hopefully by April sometime. Projects such as ALMA and EVLA are fully funded. Supervisors and employees are urged to find more efficient ways to accomplish their work. VLBA Trips for 2005(targeted) ? MK trip has been replaced with a SC trip due to urgent repairs required at SC. MK maintenance visit will occur in year 2006; The HN visit scheduled for FY 2005 may be canceled due to the expense of a long SC trip. The SC trip will occur from 4/4/05-4/22/05; The LA should occur in the latter two weeks of July. The VLBA SC site antenna is in urgent need of structural repair. Some repairs to quad legs, stairways, platforms and other structural components will be made. At the same time FRM balancing and troubleshooting will occur. An attempt to isolate and pinpoint the problems will be made. Cost is estimated at around $30K plus. The SC bound container has been shipped. AZ Bearings. Parts from the bearings removed from antennas should be stored until they are scheduled to be shipped to Rotek for repair. These parts are needed for measuring and fitting of new parts. Antenna #14?s & #16?s bearing will be shipped to Rotek for possible refurbishment, at the rate of one per year if the budget permits, sometime in FY 2005. Antennas 18, 20 and 26 have bad bearings that will eventually need to be replaced. A spare bearing should be maintained at all times. An estimated three weeks in the AAB are required before a bearing change can occur. Antenna #18 should enter the AAB late April for outfitting and bearing change. Bearing change should be planned for sometime around May 23 or week before to avoid Tiger Team trips and Antenna Moves in June. Try to prepare as far in advance as possible. It is possible that visitors from Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK will witness the separation. Antenna 20 bearing replacement will be scheduled for later in the summer this year. There are 3 spare bearings on hand. AZ Bearing change meeting on Wednesday, March 23, 2005 0900 CB Conference rm. NEW PROJECTS: AAB ANTENNA POWER ? With the new EVLA antenna loads the Transformer circuit and wiring have been exceeded. A plan to increase the size of the Circuit breaker and wiring is in progress. AZ bearing pocket mill- The AZ Bearing Pocket Mill is used to machine the antenna azimuth bearing pocket. At best the mill will currently achieve an accuracy of around .008 inches or .009 inches of tolerance. The spec calls for less than a .012 inch tolerance. The use of a different bearing on the mill would achieve a higher degree of accuracy for milling the pocket. A target date for installing the pocket mill bearing is by the end of April. The mill will need to be tested prior to the next bearing change in May. VLBA antenna panel adjustments?No conclusive results have been obtained at Pie Town consequently this project is ON HOLD. ACU Modification. A new ACU replaces the ACU in its entirety is desirable. The new ACU would hopefully improve the position loop response, improve reliability and replace the obsolete components. A PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) based upgrade would cost around $3K per antenna. EVLA has funded the prototype and design work is in progress. No funding commitments are made for retrofitting. Control Building Stairways. . After repeated unsuccessful attempts to stop the corrosion on the Control Building Stairways we are forced to replace the stairways with an improved design conforming to ADA. Estimated cost to do this for both stairways is $12K. A kick plate on one staircase has fallen off due to corrosion and the stairway has been closed to the public. In order to open the stairway to the public, modification to the stairways, to conform to ADA (American Disabilities Act) standards are necessary. Repairs to the bottom of the damaged stairway will be made soon, while the remaining repairs will be made at a later date. This work may require the Welders and Site Wye personnel. EVLA STATUS Transporter Generators- Two John Deere 70 KW generators were ordered to replace the existing 40 and 31 KW Detroit generators on the transporters. The new generators should be able to carry both the transporter and antenna loads and are much quieter than the old Detroit generators. It is desirable to provide an electrical plug for running auxiliary pumps during bearing changes at the same time that the generator work is being done. Transporter generators have arrived and are currently being wired and installed on Transporter #1. The old generator engines will be kept as spare engines for the auto shop. ModComp relocation ? is complete. Removal of all equipment from old computer room should be finished by 4/01/05. Correlator Room .. Work begins on the new correlator room beginning April 15. A barricade should be set up in the room for the Guided Tour on April 2. EVLA Antennas: Antenna #16 is almost done with outfitting with only minor work remaining. Antenna #13 is awaiting rack removal to install redesigned rack supports. There is also some Cable Wrap work to be done on Ant #13 SAFETY REPORT... James Sullivan Accident/Incidents Report: Last year ended with 28 accidents total for NRAONM. An improvement over the 41 accidents the year before. This year?s goal is to cut accidents in half. There have been 5 accidents so far with 2 accidents in the ES Division. OTHER: ANNOUNCEMENTS: Wellness Committee Report to VLA employees at 12:30 on 3/31/05. The employee committee has proposed a wellness program for employees. Several initiatives are being considered for a health program which will be reported on at this meeting. PEP?s April 1- Supervisors begin soliciting Information about employee work performance from other supervisors and coworkers. May 1- Due date for employees to return the self appraisal forms to supervisors. June 1- Supervisor reviews completed performance appraisal forms with division head and receives approval. Supervisor begins scheduling and holding evaluation meetings with employees. June 31- Due date for all evaluation meetings to be concluded and appraisal forms signed by the employee. July 5? All of the original completed and signed appraisal forms must be forwarded to the appropriate HR office with a copy to employee. Site Visit by Jim Ulvestad on Thursday Thursday morning? Jim Ulvestad will visit the VLA on Thursday, March 24, 2005 and will walk around visiting with people who want to meet with him. Let L Serna know if you want Jim to stop by and visit with you. LWDA- Long Wavelength Dipole Array- The Southwest Consortium engineers are wanting locate their prototype low-frequency station at the VLA site. A site south of the AAB is being selected and the area will be 100 meters square. Several hundred dipole type antenna will be installed at the site. Fiber and power will be required. ES division will likely prepare the site and install fiber and power cables to the site. 320 MHz VHF Observing System: The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is proposing a 320 MHz observing system similar to what is used for the existing 74 MHz. After an initial test period, if the proposed VHF observing system is approved, the SOA will build and deliver 28 dipole-receiver packages for deployment and testing. Installation on each antenna will require manpower by NRAO operations with SAO engineering and technical staff available to assist. Much noise interference from audio television transmissions is being seen at these frequencies. Filters and integration may not work. A decision on weather the system will be installed or not is forthcoming in the next couple of weeks. VLA Site Power?Total site load in the winter is around 1.4-1.5 megawatts. From this, the Control Building load around 325 KW and Antenna Load is around 625 KW. Other site loads make up the remaining 550 KW. The EVLA project will increase both the Antenna and Control Building loads. Current estimates on the final Control Building EVLA loads are around 700 KW and estimated EVLA Antenna total load is 980 KW. Total estimated EVLA load would be 2.23 MW, an increase of around 49%. If current EVLA estimates are correct, several major changes to the power system and operations will have to be made to accommodate the increase in Site Load. It is possible that the Utility and Generator Transformer sizes will have to increase and that array operations under generator power could be limited. Once all EVLA equipment is installed an actual load will be taken so we can make the necessary changes in the power system and in array operations. From lserna at aoc.nrao.edu Mon Mar 28 10:59:09 2005 From: lserna at aoc.nrao.edu (Lew Serna) Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 08:59:09 -0700 Subject: [Escoordminutes] ES Division Coordination Minutes-March Rev 1 Message-ID: <424829CD.6070002@aoc.nrao.edu> Minutes for the ES Division Coordination Meeting held on Tuesday, March 22, 2005, at 10 am, in the LL CB conference room. Attending were Eric Carlowe, Ramon Gutierrez, Lew Serna, Pat Lewis, Mark McKinnon, Guy Stanzione, Bob Broilo, James Sullivan, Jim Ruff, Tom Frost and Jon Thunborg. BUDGET Serna? In an effort to compensate for a flat budget and eliminate the need for involuntary layoffs, a voluntary retirement for eligible employees has been initiated. Eligible personnel in ES Division who are interested in the voluntary retirement should contact L Serna or Human Resources. Efforts such as cutting the travel budget, postponing merit increases, reducing personnel through reorganization and attrition are also in effect. We are still operating under the premise of having 80% of our "normal" (last years) budget. Restrict spending to urgent purchases until the budget is known hopefully by April sometime. Projects such as ALMA and EVLA are fully funded. Supervisors and employees are urged to find more efficient ways to accomplish their work. VLBA Trips for 2005(targeted) ? MK trip has been replaced with a SC trip due to urgent repairs required at SC. MK maintenance visit will occur in year 2006; The HN visit scheduled for FY 2005 may be canceled due to the expense of a long SC trip. The SC trip will occur from 4/4/05-4/22/05; The LA should occur in the latter two weeks of July. The VLBA SC site antenna is in urgent need of structural repair. Some repairs to quad legs, stairways, platforms and other structural components will be made. At the same time FRM balancing and troubleshooting will occur. An attempt to isolate and pinpoint the problems will be made. Cost is estimated at around $30K plus. The SC bound container has been shipped (shipping cost=$11K). AZ Bearings. Parts from the bearings removed from antennas should be stored until they are scheduled to be shipped to Rotek for repair. These parts are needed for measuring and fitting of new parts. Antenna #14?s & #16?s bearing will be shipped to Rotek for possible refurbishment, at the rate of one per year when budget permits. Antennas 18, 20 and 26 have bad bearings that will eventually need to be replaced. A spare bearing should be maintained at all times. An estimated three weeks in the AAB are required before a bearing change can occur. Antenna #18 should enter the AAB late April for outfitting and bearing change. Bearing change should be planned for sometime around May 23 or week before to avoid Tiger Team trips and Antenna Moves in June. Try to prepare as far in advance as possible. It is possible that visitors from Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK will witness the separation. Antenna 20 bearing replacement will be scheduled for later in the summer this year. There are 3 spare bearings on hand. AZ Bearing change meeting on Wednesday, March 23, 2005 0900 CB Conference rm. NEW PROJECTS: AAB ANTENNA POWER ? With the new EVLA antenna loads the Transformer circuit and wiring has been exceeded. A plan to increase the size of the Circuit breaker and wiring is in progress. AZ bearing pocket mill- The AZ Bearing Pocket Mill is used to machine the antenna azimuth bearing pocket. At best the mill will currently achieve an accuracy of around .008 inches or .009 inches of tolerance. The spec calls for less than a .012 inch tolerance. The use of a different bearing on the mill would achieve a higher degree of accuracy for milling the pocket. A target date for installing the pocket mill bearing is by the end of April. The mill will need to be tested prior to the next bearing change in May. VLBA antenna panel adjustments?No conclusive results have been obtained at Pie Town consequently this project is ON HOLD. ACU Modification. A new ACU replaces the ACU in its entirety is desirable. The new ACU would hopefully improve the position loop response, improve reliability and replace the obsolete components. A PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) based upgrade would cost around $3K per antenna. EVLA has funded the prototype and design work is in progress. No funding commitments are made for retrofitting. Control Building Stairways. . After repeated unsuccessful attempts to stop the corrosion on the Control Building Stairways we are forced to replace the stairways with an improved design conforming to ADA. Estimated cost to do this for both stairways is $12K. A kick plate on one staircase has fallen off due to corrosion and the stairway has been closed to the public. In order to open the stairway to the public, modification to the stairways, to conform to ADA (American Disabilities Act) standards are necessary. Repairs to the bottom of the damaged stairway will be made soon, while the remaining repairs will be made at a later date. This work may require the Welders and Site Wye personnel. EVLA STATUS Transporter Generators- Two John Deere 70 KW generators were ordered to replace the existing 40 and 31 KW Detroit generators on the transporters. The new generators should be able to carry both the transporter and antenna loads and are much quieter than the old Detroit generators. It is desirable to provide an electrical plug for running auxiliary pumps during bearing changes at the same time that the generator work is being done. Transporter generators have arrived and are currently being wired and installed on Transporter #1. The old generator engines will be kept as spare engines for the auto shop. ModComp relocation ? is complete. Removal of all equipment from old computer room should be finished by 4/01/05. Correlator Room .. Work begins on the new correlator room beginning April 15. A barricade should be set up in the room for the Guided Tour on April 2. EVLA Antennas: Antenna #16 is almost done with outfitting with only minor work remaining. Antenna #13 is awaiting rack removal to install redesigned rack supports. There is also some Cable Wrap work to be done on Ant #13 SAFETY REPORT... James Sullivan Accident/Incidents Report: Last year ended with 28 accidents total for NRAONM. An improvement over the 41 accidents the year before. This year?s goal is to cut accidents in half. There have been 5 accidents so far with 2 accidents in the ES Division. OTHER: ANNOUNCEMENTS: Wellness Committee Report to VLA employees at 12:30 on 3/31/05. The employee committee has proposed a wellness program for employees. Several initiatives are being considered for a health program which will be reported on at this meeting. PEP?s April 1- Supervisors begin soliciting Information about employee work performance from other supervisors and coworkers. May 1- Due date for employees to return the self appraisal forms to supervisors. June 1- Supervisor reviews completed performance appraisal forms with division head and receives approval. Supervisor begins scheduling and holding evaluation meetings with employees. June 30- Due date for all evaluation meetings to be concluded and appraisal forms signed by the employee. July 5? All of the original completed and signed appraisal forms must be forwarded to the appropriate HR office with a copy to employee. Site Visit by Jim Ulvestad on Thursday Thursday morning? Jim Ulvestad will visit the VLA on Thursday, March 24, 2005 and will walk around visiting with people who want to meet with him. Let L Serna know if you want Jim to stop by and visit with you. LWDA- Long Wavelength Development Array- The Southwest Consortium engineers are wanting locate their prototype low-frequency station at the VLA site. A site south of the AAB is being selected and the area will be 100 meters square. Several hundred dipole type antenna will be installed at the site. Fiber and power will be required. ES division will likely prepare the site and install fiber and power cables to the site. 190 MHz VHF Observing System: The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is proposing a 190 MHz observing system similar to what is used for the existing 74 MHz. After an initial test period, if the proposed VHF observing system is approved, the SOA will build and deliver 28 dipole-receiver packages for deployment and testing. Installation on each antenna will require manpower by NRAO operations with SAO engineering and technical staff available to assist. Much noise interference from audio television transmissions is being seen at these frequencies. Filters and integration may not work. A decision on wheather the system will be installed or not is forthcoming in the next couple of weeks. VLA Site Power?Total site load in the winter is around 1.4-1.5 megawatts. From this, the Control Building load around 325 KW and Antenna Load is around 625 KW. Other site loads make up the remaining 550 KW. The EVLA project will increase both the Antenna and Control Building loads. Current estimates on the final Control Building EVLA loads are around 700 KW and estimated EVLA Antenna total load is 980 KW. Total estimated EVLA load would be 2.23 MW, an increase of around 49%. If current EVLA estimates are correct, several major changes to the power system and operations will have to be made to accommodate the increase in Site Load. It is possible that the Utility and Generator Transformer sizes will have to increase and that array operations under generator power could be limited. Once all EVLA equipment is installed an actual load will be taken so we can make the necessary changes in the power system and in array operations.