InstrumentConfiguration

This page provides a description and status of the current instrument hardware, an historical description of the system as at the day FEROS-II entered normal operations on November 17th, 2003 and a complete history of the changes to the Instrumental Configuration of FEROS since that date.

Overview of changes chronologically

Current System Description

  • Instrument: FEROS
  • Detector:
  • Adapter: FEROS/WFI Adapter
    • M3
    • SCSM
    • TCCD
    • ADC: Not yet implemented.
  • Calibration Unit
    • Lamp1
    • Lamp2
    • Lamp3
    • Lamp4
    • RSM
    • Cooler fan
    • FCU Shutter
    • NDFW
    • Fibre Focus lenses
    • FFU Power Supplies
    • WCU1 Power Supply
    • WCU2 Power Supply
  • Science Fibres
  • Fibre Head
  • CCDTest beta light source: #5
  • CCDTest stabilized LED source
  • Temperature Sensors
  • Humidity sensor
  • LCU
    • lfeics1
  • PULPO
  • FIERA Sparc PCI LCU
  • Instrument Workstation

System Description as at 2003-11-17

  • Instrument: FEROS
  • Detector:
  • Adapter: FEROS/WFI Adapter
    • M3
    • SCSM
    • TCCD
    • ADC: Not yet implemented.
  • Calibration Unit
    • Lamp1
    • Lamp2
    • Lamp3
    • Lamp4
    • RSM
    • Cooler fan
    • FCU Shutter
    • NDFW
    • Fibre Focus lenses
    • FFU Power Supplies
    • WCU1 Power Supply
    • WCU2 Power Supply
  • Science Fibres
  • Fibre Head: #4
  • CCDTest beta light source: #5
  • CCDTest stabilized LED source
  • Temperature Sensors
  • Humidity sensor
  • LCU
    • lfeics1
  • PULPO
  • FIERA Sparc VME LCU
  • Instrument Workstation

History of changes

FCU

  • For up-to-date RSM encoder positions see LPRS-009449.
  • 2008-Jun-05: ThAr bulb of lamp3 replaced by new spare [now: Serial No 601072]. Lamp was exchanged at horometer count 1806 for lamp3. Lamp current remains at 12 mA.
  • 2007-Sep-10: Fine-tuning of the RSM encoder positions:  lamp2 = 7347 eu and lamp3 = 3747 eu.
  • 2007-Sep-08: ThAr bulb of lamp3 replaced by new spare [now: Serial No 601070]. Lamp was exchanged at horometer count 1404 for lamp3. Lamp current remains at 12 mA.
  • 2007-Sep-07: Lamp selection mirror (RSM) was found disadjusted in vertical tilt for the Halogen (lamp2) and ThAr lamp3. New RSM encoder positions updated.
  • 2007-Apr-30: ThAr lamp3 changed
  • 2007-Mar-15: Halogen lamps 1 and 2 changed
  • 2006-Aug-17: Halogen 2 lamp changed
  • 2006-Aug-16: Halogen 1 lamp changed. Odometer value : 437.32
  • 2006-Jul-13 : ThAr lamp changed.
    Lamp
    		 Current/Voltage setting
    		 RSM Encoder position
    LAMP1 [ThArNe]
    		 12mA
    		 9000
    LAMP2 [Halogen1]
    		 4.13A/12.2V
    		 7286
    LAMP2 [Halogen2]
    		 1.69A/6.0V
    		 3685 (not properly aligned)
    LAMP3 [ThAr]
    		 12mA
    		 4715 (not properly aligned)

  • 2006-Mar-06: New Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector (ADC) installed, see Commissioning Report.
  • 2005-Nov-10 : Halogen1/LAMP2 bulb changed
  • 2005-Mar-16: Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector (ADC) installed, see Commissioning Report.
  • 2004-Sep-09: The lack of blue flux in the Flatfield exposures was discovered to be due to Neutral density filters installed inside the caibration unit immediately in front of the two halogen lamps. These filters were thus replaced with a UG???+UG??? combinatin in front of the Halogen-1 lamp (blue part of spectrum) and a UG??? filter in front of the Halogen-2 lamp (red part of spectrum) thus increasing the overall Flatfield flux level but especially increasing the flux ratio between red and blue wavelengths (especially for wavelengths shorter than 40nm). Lamp power supply settings established today are:
    Lamp
    		 Current/Voltage setting
    		 RSM Encoder position
    LAMP1 [ThArNe]
    		 12mA
    		 9000
    LAMP2 [Halogen1]
    		 3.49A/8.5V
    		 7286
    LAMP2 [Halogen2]
    		 1.68A/6.0V
    		 3685 (not properly aligned)
    LAMP3 [ThAr]
    		 12mA
    		 4715 (notproperly aligned)

  • 2004-Aug-11: A new mounting for the inputs of the calibration fibres onto the calibration unit allowing for independent alignment of the fibres relative to the optics was installed. The fibres were then aligned resulting in a significant improvement in flux delivered to the fibrehead. The exact improvement has not been quantified, but is of the order of a factor of 10. Other alignments and adjustments mean that the fianl decrease in FlatField  calibration exposure times is somewhat less than this (140sec --> 30sec) but still the improvement is significant. Also the ThArNe wavelength calibration sequence was 14, 70 & 140sec, and has been reduced down to 3, 15 & 30sec. Here is a list of all the actions made:
    1. Installation of new mountings.
    2. Alignment of fibres using the FFHV TCCD to check flux levels.
    3. Check of flux balance and flux levels in ThArNe spectrum.
    4. Alignment of RSM for Halogen1 (the blue bulb) of the LAMP2 Flatfield lamp. New position 7290. ICS configuration file /data/INSROOT/FEROS/SYSTEM/ COMMON/CONFIGFILES/femcfgINS.cfg updated and archived.
    5. Alignment of Halogen2 (the red bulb) of the LAMP2 Flatfield lamp. This involves manually adjusting the height and alignment of the bulb to align the blub filament as well as possible with the optical axis of the optics of the projection system. This is a tedious and frustrating procedure since the bulb must be aligned just by moving it and so it any given position is NOT reproducable, and because at each position an expsoure must be taken to see check alignment.
    6. Adjustment of Halogen1 and Halogen2 lamp current settings so as to balance the red and blue parts of the FlatField spectrum. Lamp power supply settings established today are:
      LAMP1 [ThArNe]
      		 12mA
      LAMP2 [Halogen1]
      		 3.49A/8.5V
      LAMP2 [Halogen2]
      		 1.68A/6.0V
      LAMP3 [ThAr]
      		 12mA
      DRS initialisation made this afternoon resulted in Wavelength Solution RMS of 5.3x10-3 based on 847 lines (i.e. a good RMS and an excellent number of lines).
    Note: Alignment of RSM for ThAr and then alignment of Ne bulb stil pending.
  • 2004-Jul-03 & 04: A major intervention on the FCU was performed, the objective being to find the reason for and fix the large throughput ratio between the calibration fibres. The Adpater was dismounted and the Calibration fibre exits and projection optics were cleaned resulting in a 1:1 throughput ratio for the calibration fibres as measured with FFHV TCCD and using the Deuterium lamp (LAMP4) to illuminate directly first one then the other CALIBRATION fibre (by connecting the fibre inputs directly to the lamp source.
    At the same time the optics inside the FCU were aligned as well as possible. A misalignment between the optics used to focus the beam onto the Calibration fibre inputs and the inputs themselves was detected and it was also discovered that the FCU Shutter was in contact with the mounting of these optics. An action point has been created to address these issues.
    Nevertheless the end result of this work is that the flux ratio between the two fibres in LAMP1 spectra has been adjusted to ~1.2 (as compared to ~2.4 previously). The flux ratio in LAMP2 flatfields has also been adjusted as follows:
    1. RSM encoder configuration adjusted to achieve a flux ratio for Halogen1 (BLUE) lamp of ~1.0.
    2. Physical position of Halogen2 (RED) lamp manually adjusted to simultaneously achieve flux ratio of ~1.0.
    3. Halogen2 lamp current adjusted to achieve approximately equal flux in brightest orders between Halogen1 and Halogen2 parts of flat spectrum.
    Alignment of RSM for LAMP3 still pending at the moment of writing this.

LCU

  • 2004-Aug-05 -- 08: Three sets of modifications were made to the lfeics1 LCU, all carried out by the electronics department and lead by Jaime Alonso:
    1. Modifications in preparation for the Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector.
    2. Creation of a 220V switch for controlling LAMP4 the Deuterium lamp. This frees up the former HeAr controller of the FCU controller box and thus allows all four calibration lamps to be powered independently, meaning it is no longer necessary to switch between SIMULATION modes and to go to the FEROS room to phyically change the plugs between LAMPS 1 and 3. ICS instrument configuration was modified accordingly and archived.
    3. Installation of hour counters on all six LAMPS. At UTC 2004-08-08T20:00:00, all six counters (LAMP1 = ThArNe, LAMP2 = Halogen1 + Halogen2, LAMP3 = ThAr + Ne, LAMP4 = D2) read 0000008, as delivered by the manufacturer. Presumably the last two digits in red are some fractional hours indication, possibly even minute counters, while the first five digits give the number of hours. A log book remains to be implemented.

FIERA

  • 2005-06-16: Upgrade from VME Sparc to PCI Sparc. No obvious impact on CCD performance or charcterisitics (see CCD Test results).

PULPO

  • 2004-Jan-18: PULPO #0 replaced by PULPO #22. Reason: Temperature alarm was not functioning on PULPO #0. Note also that PULPO #0 has Software Version 2.53 whereas PULPO #22 has SW Version 2.55.

Shutter

  • 2004-Jun-23: Serviced by WEc of MEC. Was found to be improperly mounted which was probably causing friction between the blades leading to improper opening and closing and intermittent complete failure
  • 2004-Jan-22: The shutter electronics box was relocated in order to allow the cable connecting the shutter to the electronics box to be straight since this was found to greatly reduce the friction between cable and its sheath.

Wavelength Calibration Lamp (LAMP1)

  • 2004-Jan-10: ThAr lamp [Serial No ??????] replaced by ThArNe lamp [Serial No 528056]. Reason: ThAr Lamp ?????? wrong type.
  • 2004-Jan-02: ThArNe lamp [Serial No 520997] replaced by ThAr lamp [Serial No ??????]. Reason: Lamp 520997 burnt out. ThAr lamp used in lieu of a ThArNe lamp because no ThArNe lamp in stock.

Flat Field Lamp (LAMP2)

  • 2007-Mar-30: Voltage of Hal 1 and Hal 2 modified. As the FF intensity decreases, the voltage has been slightly increased. V(Hal1)=1.70 V(Hal2)=4.16 The semi-transparent mirror used to combine the light coming from the 2 Hal Lamps has been also slighly moved.
  • 2007-Mar-15: Halogen lamps 1 and 2 changed. Reason: preventive measure.
  • 2006-Aug-17: Halogen 2 lamp changed
  • 2006-Aug-16: Halogen 1 lamp changed
  • 2005-Nov-10: Halogen1 bulb (BLUE) replaced. Reason, fluctuating flux levels in blue orders.(Intensity and Voltage modified)
  • 2004-Aug-02: Halogen1 bulb (BLUE) replaced. Reason, concerns that previous bulb was dying caused by complete failure of DRS to locate order 39.
  • 2004-Feb-07: Halogen1 bulb (BLUE) replaced. Reason, previous bulb died.

Wavelength Calibration Lamp (LAMP3)

  • 2009-Jun-13: ThAr lamp replaced. Reason: lamp 601068 failed after 4284 mAh in use. New lamp is Serial No 530119.
  • 2009-Feb-26: ThAr lamp replaced. Reason: poor quality of lamp 530121. New lamp is Serial No 601068.
  • 2009-Jan-10: ThAr lamp replaced. Reason: lamp 601072 failed after 4300 mAh in use. New lamp is Serial No 530121.
  • 2008-Jun-05: ThAr lamp replaced. Reason: lamp 601070 burnt through after 4800 mAh in use. New lamp is Serial No 601072.
  • 2007-Sep-08: ThAr lamp replaced. Reason: poor quality of the previous one. New lamp is Serial No 601070.
  • 2007-Apr-30: ThAr lamp replaced. Reason: fluctuating flux level and lamp about to die.
  • 2006-Jul-13: ThAr lamp replaced. Reason : short circuit in the lamp.
  • 2004-Jan-19: ThAr lamp [Serial No 520991] replaced by ThAr lamp [Serial No 528038]. Reason: Lamp 520991 burnt out.