From lserna at nrao.edu Tue Sep 2 08:45:31 2008 From: lserna at nrao.edu (Lew Serna) Date: Tue, 02 Sep 2008 06:45:31 -0600 Subject: [Escoordminutes] ES Div. Coordination Meeting Minutes-- August Message-ID: <48BD356B.60907@aoc.nrao.edu> Minutes for the ES Division Coordination Meeting held on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 10:30 am, in the LL CB conference room. Attending were Lew Serna, Charley Chavez, Bob Broilo, Guy Stanzione, Gene Cole, James Sullivan, Jim Ruff, Brent Avery, Bob Daniels, Chuck Thompson, Martin Lopez and Jon Thunborg. BUDGET ?Site & Wye Track budget received $38K to make up for the short fall. The Break machine used extensively for EVLA work should be repaired within the next couple of months at a cost of around $3K. Purchases requiring RFP for FY08 must be submitted by 8/27/08. Last date to submit routine purchase requisitions for FY08 is 9/17/08. Early Retirement Program is in effect for eligible employees to help alleviate budget issues in 2010. VLBA -- Tiger Team visits to OV, NL are complete for FY 2008. PT AZ32 wheel assembly failed and was replaced on 6/6/08. The platforms are also finished at PT. The warehouse will stock remainder of Wheel assembly parts necessary to replace all remaining old wheel assemblies. The Brewster and North Liberty foundations continue to degrade and will require urgent repairs in the near future at an approximate cost of $15K each. Foundation work has been placed on the funding wish list. MK dish panels that were damaged were replaced. The damaged panels need to be repaired for spares. SC, MK, and KP are scheduled for next year (FY2009). St Croix will take an extended mechanical maintenance visit early in FY 2009 (the fall) to replace Subreflector, Elevation Bearing, finish painting, install platform and change out one Azimuth wheel assembly. The HN subreflector will need to be prepared in time for the SC maintenance visit. A more robust box to ship the subreflector will be needed. We will continue in FY2010 with HN, FD and BR. AZ BEARINGS ?Bearing replacement for Antenna 28 is complete. Bob Broilo was the Bearing Change Supervisor for antenna 28. An estimated three weeks in the AAB are required before a bearing change can occur. 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. Four Bearings have been shipped to Rotek for repair. Only 1 of the four bearings was refurbishable. A second bearing inner race will be touched up and the bearing will be reassembled. This will give us a usable emergency spare but should not be considered for permanent use. A third bearing will need a completely new inner ring fabricated. Scheduled delivery of two these bearings is September-October of 2008. There is a 2 year minimum lead time for new and refurbished bearings. Grease samples show that antennas 10, 20, are candidates for scheduled bearing changes. PROJECTS: Control building Stairways? The Control Building Stairways are being replaced due to their rapid deterioration. The stairways will be replaced with an improved design conforming to ADA. The western stairway is complete. A new concrete landing will have to be poured at the base of the eastern stairway and the steps replaced. The eastern stairway is deemed hazardous and is currently barricaded to prevent its use. Work on the eastern stairway will continue as the workload permits. No further progress. ST Croix Maintenance Visit? St. Croix Antenna has undergone extensive repair and painting work due to its severe corrosion problems. Work began on September 10 through December 21 completing 99 % of the painting. Some topcoat painting remains at the base of backup structure. In addition the AZ Wheel Assy, Subreflector and elevation bearing replacement work will be completed. The warehouse reports that there are enough El Bearing parts to prepare for ST Croix and to maintain a spare (or 2ea). It is estimated that this work will require 20 days and 6 men to complete and is scheduled to occur on October 27 to November 14. Everything should be ready for shipment by late September. VLA ANTENNA FOUNDATION MOVEMENT? A problem with north arm antenna foundation movement needs to be addressed. It appears that the two rearward station pillars have been slowly separating over the years at BN3 and BN5 with BN5 being the worst. They have separated far enough in about 33 years that 2 bolts (one on each reward pad) can no longer be used to secure the antenna pads to the foundation pillars. Markers have been set for taking measurements to try and see which pillars are actually moving and at what rate. The plates from BN5 have been removed for modification in the machine shop. No change was observed between loaded and unloaded measurements. Measurements will continue throughout the year. GENERATOR REPAIRS? Minor leaks were noticed at the engine rear seals and it is desirable to install a better fuel filtering system. A bearing on the generator unit also should be replacement as a PM. This work would cost around $15K and has been put on the funding wish list. POWER MONITOR? A plan to install power monitoring equipment in the Hatch gear will require a power outage that could last 2 days. The power monitoring equipment is very useful in determining our power quality needs and will keep operations informed of power status at all times. A hatch gear PM will also be performed. This work is scheduled for 9/19/08-9/20/08 (Fri. & Sat.). No observing is scheduled during these two days. Bob will release a schedule of work this week. HOT WATER LOOP. A project is submitted to install a hot water loop using Correlator waste heat: The difference between the summer load and winter load is mostly due to heating (at least 300kW). However, even during the coldest mornings the cooling tower is ventilating correlator waste heat into the atmosphere. We already use some of the heat in the Control Building, but by extending the hot water loop to other buildings, we may be able to reduce our power demand. The WIDAR correlator will have an even higher heat output to work with. This project mainly consists of burying a hot water loop and using heat exchangers similar to what many complexes of buildings use. Payback on this project could be as quick as 1 year. Bob Broilo will investigate and provide further information. EVLA; Civil? Correlator Room: A preventive measure to test batteries and lubricate the Correlator Door will be implemented by the ES Electrical group. Cable tray is installed. Final installation of breakers and startup of battery rack for final check and noise testing will occur soon. The cleaning underneath the computer flooring will follow installation of High Speed cabling. The correlator racks have been installed. Correlator entry restrictions will be in effect by about 9/9/08. There will be a meeting in November for PM inspection of the correlator room fire systems. EVLA Antennas? Feeds: All L band feed build work is complete. S-Band rings are being cut in preparation for assembly on a schedule of 2 every 7 weeks. VSWR tests were be made to several feeds but several still remain. It is desirable to install as many feeds as possible while in the AAB. Some S-band feeds will probably need to wait until the antennas are back in for overhauls. The permanent location for the Vertex Room smoke detector will be made soon after discussion between Engineering and Safety take place. In the event remaining VLA antennas are shut down after the 22^nd EVLA antenna is complete it would be desirable to remove power and complete some of the outfitting tasks in the field for some groups. SAFETY REPORT : No Accidents to report. Bob Daniels is the new Head Environment, Health and Safety. James Sullivan receives Star Award for work on CDL testing. Awareness of road hazards and driving is required of all employees. EMS Conference on November 10, 11, 12 for those able to attend. Hearing tests in Albuquerque for 7 employees needs to be scheduled. Employees affected will be notified by James Sullivan. ANNOUNCEMENTS: ETK Training (Electronic Timekeeping) Electronic Timekeeping Training for all hands is scheduled for Wednesday 08/27/08 in the VLA Cafeteria @ 10:00 a.m.. A focus group will be the first to begin using the ETK. The Antenna Mechanics will be the focus group. Speaker will be Chuck Beverage. Deadline for clothing reimbursement is 9/15/08 OTHER: End of Summer Party will be held on Wednesday, September 10, 2008. Pit BBQ hosted by the Track Crew in the VLA Cafeteria.