STScI

The silent dome

Our large dome is now more than thirty years old and a renovation was needed. While turning the dome made quite a noise. The polyurethane rollers were brittle, the electrical control was outdated and the motors for the dome rotation were driven by a clutch. The roller carriers for the slit and the conductor rails with their current collectors also had to be overhauled. Now we run the motors with a modern frequency converter on new rollers – the result is almost silent!

Link: Film of the rotating dome

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