From lserna at aoc.nrao.edu Thu Feb 2 16:17:10 2006 From: lserna at aoc.nrao.edu (Lew Serna) Date: Thu, 02 Feb 2006 14:17:10 -0700 Subject: [Escoordminutes] ES Division Coordination Meeting Minutes - Jan. 06 Message-ID: <43E276D6.5090803@aoc.nrao.edu> Minutes for the ES Division Coordination Meeting held on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2006, at 10:30 am, in the LL CB conference room. Attending were Lew Serna, Guy Stanzione, Ramon Gutierrez, Bob Broilo, Steve Aragon, James Sullivan, Gene Cole, Brent Avery, Mark McKinnon, and Charley Chavez. BUDGET ? Still no real numbers but idea for a rate of spending is forthcoming. Meanwhile supervisors are cautioned to only make essential purchases until the "real" budget is known in a few weeks. Hold all ?new? projects until further notice. The EVLA is budgeted and work should continue as scheduled. VLBA TT Trips? since shipping the container to St Croix is extremely expensive, we propose to ship a container one way, with all the parts needed to repair the antenna and with tools needed for future tiger team visits. The existing container is fairly beat up and should be replaced since it may not be acceptable for shipping much longer. We would only need to ship small boxes of tools and necessary parts for subsequent visits. The cost estimate for doing this is around $10K. Shipping costs for the container round trip is around $12K. Ramon will get cost estimates for tools needed and purchasing a better container. J. Thunborg is making an inspection trip to The St Croix this week in order to evaluate the antenna in preparation for future maintenance. A desired schedule for VLBA TT visits in FY 2006 is to complete KP, MK and HN, with a possible visit to SC in the spring. Eric Carlowe recommends that Tiger Team Visits to HN and MK be extended to 8 days. The tentative VLBA schedule is to visit KP in early June, MK in late July and HN in late Sept. AZ Bearings-- Parts from the bearings removed from antennas are needed for measuring and fitting of new parts and should be stored until they are scheduled to be shipped to Rotek for repair. There are 2 good Azimuth bearings on hand. One spare bearing should be maintained at all times. Antenna 14, 16 & 18?s bearings will be shipped to Rotek for possible refurbishment, at the rate of one per year, or as the budget permits. If possible we should ship all bearings to Rotek to save on shipping. There is an 8-9 week lead time for delivery on a refurbished bearing. Antenna 26?s bearing will be changed next and is scheduled to occur in summer of FY2006 (possibly as early as May). An estimated three weeks in the AAB are required before a bearing change can occur. Grease samples show that antennas 26, 10, 20, are good candidates for the next bearing changes. NEW PROJECTS: ACU Modification-- A new ACU that 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 in the current ACU. A PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) based upgrade would cost around $3K per antenna. EVLA has funded the prototype and design work is ongoing. This remains a low priority project but if funding becomes possible the priority may be elevated. No funding commitments funding commitments have been made for retrofitting of antennas. Control building Stairways?The Control Building Stairways will be replace due to repeated unsuccessful attempts to prevent their rusting. The stairways will be replaced with an improved design conforming to ADA. Estimated cost to do this for both stairways is $12K. The EPO Division contributed $6K towards this project while ES division will carry the remaining cost. Materials have been ordered and drawings are being sent to the Machine Shop and the Weld shop for fabrication of parts. The stairs are due to be shipped next week. A new concrete landing will have to be poured at the base of the eastern stairway. LWDA (Long Wave Development Array)? The University of New Mexico and the Naval Research Laboratory are leading a research project called the Long Wavelength Demonstrator Array, which will be installed within the VLA site central square mile. ES Division has provided access to the site and installed a fiber optic cable that will be connected to VLA?s west arm trunk at CW7. No further work by the ES Division is planned at this time. Fiber terminations at CW7 should be completed by the end of February by the fiber group. Fire Station- The new Fire truck will not fit inside the existing fire truck bay. The fire truck should be kept indoors to prevent the freezing of pumps. Construction of a new bay is in progress and should be completed soon. The ambulance is now housed in the old fire truck bay. 190 MHz Receiver System?The maximum support available from E/S Division for cherry picker support is 8 hrs per week. An NRAO employee who is knowledgeable in cherry picker operations or receiver installation must be present at the antenna at the appropriate times for the installation of the 190 MHz receiver. Support for this project continues. Transporter Axles ? The transporter axles are exhibiting several cracks which are being rubbed out to prevent propagation of the cracks. This is a temporary fix as more cracks will eventually reappear. These axles should be replaced in the next 10 years with axles made of a different material and design to increase their life. They are currently lasting about 12-14 years and were last replaced in 1992. There are 12 axles per transporter and each axle will cost around $3K to replace. There is one spare axle of the existing design available. A plan to purchase 3 newly designed axles per year to replace all transporter axles in 8 years time is being proposed. It is worthwhile to investigate the cost of having these built up at one time by an outside shop. The last inspection of a ?repaired? axle, in service for about 2 years, revealed no cracks. VLBA FRM Drives? The VLBA is running out of spare FRM motors due to obsolescence. The current drive system utilizes three motors. Field Techs are changing to a two motor drive system which should free up motors for spares. Jim Ruff has proposed a new drive system for the VLBA FRM?s. It is believed that the drive amplifiers proposed for the new VLBA system will work with the VLA stepper motors. This project is on hold until all budgetary numbers in (about a months time). The cost to build a prototype is around $15K. The cost to retrofit all VLBA sites is around $300K. VLBA Watch Spring Cable Wraps? The VLBA Pie Town watch spring cable wrap has been replaced with an EVLA type watch spring wrap at a cost of around $300. It is an improvement over the current VLBA watch spring wraps. The cable wrap has undergone a successful evaluation period and will be installed at all VLBA Sites. VLA Counterweights-- The VLA Antennas are Dish Heavy by about 7,000 foot pounds. An EVLA antenna needs to be counterweight tested with all EVLA equipment installed to make sure of the actual amount of dish counterbalance we need. Someday Green Bank may surplus the GBT steel rail. At that time they have agreed to give us their surplus steel for use as counterweight on VLA antennas. VLBA Gearbox and Wheel Assy. Two Wheel assemblies are built for FY2006. Also there should be enough spares to repair the spare VLBA Gearbox that has been cannibalized. Brent Avery will check to see if the parts have been expensed. If the parts have been expensed the gearbox should be restored. If the parts have not been expensed we will wait a couple of weeks to see what our budget is before we proceed. Brent Avery will check the status of the parts in the warehouse. Smoke Detectors: A Control Building ?addressable smoke detector? audit and replacement has been made in order to maximize savings on programming costs. Glen and Bob have conducted a survey and detectors have been ordered. Installation is in progress. Programming of the Fire system to accommodate the detectors will take place when the Shielded Room Fire protection is added. Ballast Cars? Two ballast cars have been purchased through a special fund at a cost of $16.8k each. The purchase of the ballast cars will eliminate the need to run the high maintenance and costly dump trucks for track work. The mechanical repairs to the two ballast cars have been made and the cars are ready for a test drive. A test for proper braking and a test of the capacity of ballast that can be hauled will occur this week. EVLA STATUS Peter Napier took on a job with ALMA and A search committee is charged with finding a replacement for Peter Napier. The process will take several months. A replacement may be named by June. Mark McKinnon is the interim EVLA Project leader. Correlator Room-- Stanzione? Water Supply Plumbing work is in progress at this time by a contractor. HVAC will finish the sprinkler plumbing when the contractor leaves. Other work remaining is flooring, Electrical wiring and Lighting. A modification of the Shielded room doors is being designed to prevent accidental injury to personnel during the automatic closure of the doors. EVLA Antennas: E Cole-- Antenna 24 has entered the AAB for overhaul. If ant 24 is finished by mid April Antenna 26 will be brought in for a bearing change/EVLA outfit. EVLA Antenna 24 will have to be completely outfitted with working electronics, before the next antenna can come into the AAB. Feed Tower-- Gutierrez-- There is a problem with fitting all the feeds in the feed circle of the tower due to the size of the new X-band feed. A feed tower was built and adjustments were made to resolve fitment problems. Antennas with the old X-band feeds (first 4 EVLA antennas) will be retrofitted at the end of the EVLA outfitting cycle. There are only 2 prototype X-band feeds available at this time but all future feed towers will be constructed to accommodate the new feeds. SCHEDULING CALENDAR ON LINE? E. Cole-- Procedures to improve antenna accessibility and to avoid accidental antenna movement are in effect. EVLA Antennas that have been outfitted in the AAB and are being ?delivered? for electronic outfitting can be remotely controlled. In order to prevent accidental antenna movement, antennas will be locked out until such time that movement is authorized. Rudy Latasa (Cryo Group) will be responsible for the Lockout. Antennas that have been deemed electronically outfitted will go into a ?Test Phase?. In the Test Phase the antenna is not locked out and can be remotely controlled. Employees are reminded to use caution and to exercise proper Lock Out Tag Out (LOTO) procedures when visiting antennas. Employees should always contact Operations prior to visiting any EVLA antennas that are in Electronic outfitting or the Test Phase. A calendar to reserve your time to work on these antennas can be found at the following link; http://webtest.aoc.nrao.edu./antres/ Employees are encouraged to use this calendar as a communication tool for scheduling work on these antennas. You may view any of the calendars without a username or password. If you would like a username so that you may schedule events, please call Pat Van Buskirk. Instructions for adding an event are included on the login page. Remember to always call Operations prior to visiting these antennas. SAFETY REPORT... James Sullivan Twelve Accidents occurred in 2005. No new accidents and one new incident reported so far this year. A Lock Out Tag Out (LOTO) safety training session was held at the VLA on Jan. 26. The next training session occurs on Feb. 23. There will be CPR training for the Electricians and the PT crew. The CPR training will be administered by R Murillo, P Madigan and J Sullivan. Much of the hazardous waste has been removed and the remainder will be removed soon. A report from the EPA inspection indicates several problems with our hazardous material disposal site which need to be addressed. ANNOUNCEMENTS: PEPS ? Begin April 1 2005 PERFORMANCE EVALUATION PROCESS TIME LINE April 1 Supervisors begin soliciting information about employee work performance from other supervisors and coworkers. Supervisors will conduct brief individual or group meetings with employees to discuss the upcoming process and to distribute copies of the appropriate performance appraisal forms including a list of goals that were set last year. Exempt employees are required to complete a self-appraisal. Although nonexempt employees are not required to complete a self-appraisal, they should be given a copy of the non-exempt appraisal form and encouraged to complete it. Exempt employees begin completing the appraisal form by identifying any changes in their key responsibilities and reporting on their progress toward achieving the goals set last year. Any other significant accomplishments they may have had during the year should also be identified. Finally employees should identify goals for next year. May 1 Due date for employees to return the self-appraisal forms to their supervisors with the appropriate sections completed. Supervisors begin writing employee evaluations based on their observations, coworker feedback, and the self-appraisal completed by the employee. Supervisor reviews the draft goals for the coming year and modifies as appropriate. 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. Employees should be given sufficient time (at least 24 hours) to review and comment on the evaluation. Based on information provided by the employee, Supervisors should make corrections and changes as appropriate. July 5 All of the original completed and signed appraisal forms must be forwarded to the appropriate Human Resources Office. A copy of the signed appraisal should be provided to the employee.