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Murriyang, the Parkes 64 meter Radio Telescope, has a moving structure of
about 1000 tonnes. It is supported by, and its azimuthal
motion is provided by, four large rollers, each with a set of double
row roller bearings on each end of its axle. The large rollers run on
a circular steel track on top of the concrete support tower.
Two of the large rollers are
driven by DC servo motors through reduction gear boxes to provide the
azimuthal motion of the telescope. The other two large rollers are
"idlers".
The bearings of the driven azimuth rollers were
replaced about 30 years ago, and
with the telescope having celebrated its
60th birthday a few years ago,
the time had come to undertake a major refurbishment and replacement
of bearings on all four rollers and in the azimuth gearboxes. One
idler was tackled in March, with work on the remaining idler and the
two driven rollers and gearboxes commencing last week. The image above
shows the removal of gears from gearbox on to stands for
transportation to the workshop.
(Image credit: Franco Di Dio)
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