Lutze Reaching For The Stars - Case Study
Lutze is involved in helping build a global network of robotic telescopes for professional scientific research and research-based education. Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) Network is a private operating foundation headquartered in Goleta.
Lutze has been instrumental in providing suitable components for their tailor designed and manufactured 1m telescope. Two of these 1m telescopes have been built and the plan is to build a total of 20. These telescopes will be displayed to six remote sites spread across the globe. The telescopes are designed to be remotely directed robotic systems. Each location could have up to four telescopes in its part of the network.
The control panel of he 1m telescope contains space saving Lutze LSC wiring system. The DIN rails house, among other things, Lutze's over current protection unit LOCC-Box. In the control cabinet the LOCC-Box is protecting DC 24V loads, such as a PAC, safety relays, contractors, switches, limit switches, hall effect sensors, computers, motor drive logic, relays, Devicenet I/O, optocouplers, Ethernet switches, and a wireless Ethernet bridge. Lutze LOCC-Boxes fit the application well due to its narrow housing and remote monitoring functions as these network telescopes are designed to be built and shipped in containers and then assembled in remote locations, without needing specialised construction crews to set in-place. This is unlike most conventional telescopes with a foundation housed in a large observatory.
LSC helps keep enclosure sizes small for the confined allowed space and optimises shipping logistics. It will also provide the needed flexibility and easy access for last minute design changes. Lutze USA will be providing product training on the LSC wiring system to LCOGT sub-contractors who will be building the production control panels.
Lutze-Silflex A116 series VFD cables are used for remotely operated VFD drives. EMC fittings are used for the shielded cable grounding. Lutze Silflex control cables are being used to interconnect throughout the system as are connectors, reducers and adapters. The RJ 45 pass-throughs have been used for Ethernet connections in the control enclosures. Lutze USB pass-through will be added to the LCOGT instrumentation panels.
LCOGT's global telescope network is continually expanding and will eventually have continuous coverage of the night sky from multiple locations. There will be 3 main classes of telescope operated robotically, categorised by the size of the primary mirror: 2m, 1m and 0.4m. Lutze has become part of the institution that will provide the technology to make scientific discoveries for years to come, thus being part of the new teaching tools looking into the stars and learning more about the world around us.
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