ATPneumatics User Guide

The ATPneumatics system is primarily used to open/close the mirror cover and control the actuators under the M1 mirror. However, it also controls numerous valves, gauges, and regulators that measure and control flow into the LATISS instrument. Currently, the M2 actuator system is disconnected at not in use. Because there appears no degradation in image quality it is not expected to be reconnected.

A mapping of the pneumatics system is found on page 6 of the electrical diagram. There is a master supply valve, which receives a 60 PSI supply pressure. The line is then split into multiple supplies each with their own pressure regulator and gauge. Note that the system operates in open loop, meaning the commanded pressures may differ slightly from what is read on the gauge.

Control of the ATPneumatics system is performed via the ATCS class. The mirror system pneumatics are controlled via the ATAOS (also controlled via the ATCS class), which monitors the telescope elevation and adjusts the pressure accordingly. The mirror covers are opened/closed as part of the startup/shutdown methods inside the ATCS class and should not be performed manually under regular operations.

The ATPneumatics system has a low-level protection that prevents rapid pressure changes from occurring but setting the rate at which the pressure transducers can be changed. This is to prevent fluttering an strong impulses to the mirror system. Therefore, there may be a delay in reaching the desired pressure upon commanding a large change.

ATPneumatics EUI

The engineering user interface for the ATPneumatics CSC is shared with the ATMCS and is hosted on the cRIO and accessible using a LabVIEW plugin for internet explorer 6. Once connected to the summit control network, the GUI is reached using this address. More details on connecting to and using the EUI are found in the manual on Docushare.

ATPneumatics Interface

The xml-interface contains all of the commands/events/telemetry for the ATPneumatics system.

Example Use-Case

Interacting with the ATPneumatics should utilize the ATCS class, where examples are provided to open and close the telescope.

Mirror pneumatics are controlled using the ATAOS. Technote TSTN-012 discusses how the Look-up table for M1 was derived for use with the ATAOS.

Simulator

The ATPneumatics CSC has a simulator for the purposes of testing other code on the NCSA Test Bed. It is written in Python and only simulates the functionality of the ATPneumatics, it does not utilize any of the original ATPneumatics code. The simulator is found in the ts_ATPneumaticsSimulator repository on Github.