Tiedown mods/failures

28jul03

Log of major structural changes:
This a log of tiedown failures and modifications.
 
 
Log of all mods/failures
date 
yymmdd
td description
080623
12
load cell 2 replaced with spare that had come back from being calibrated.
080619
4
transmission replaced. loadcell recalibrated.
080616
12
Found that load cell amplifier was causing trouble with 5 volts supply. After disconnecting amplifier the analog inputs read ok and the encoder stopped jumping.
080608
12
encoder card on td 12 blown out by lightning.
080529
4
replaced jack on tiedown 4.
080407
8
td 8 stopped moving at 19.57. commanded velocity remained 0.
080407
12,4,8
the torque readback has occasional level shifts of up to 55 a/d counts.
080312
12,4,8
recalibrated all 3 load cells. td 12 now has hectors amp adjustement board (it was the last to not have it).
080228
12
replaced transmission. Had a loud knocking noise ...
071011
-
after 2nd set of az swings updated the reference position to be:
15.0718,15.3196,15.0926
071010
-
updated the tiedown reference position. After azswing updated the reference position to be
15.1140,15.2028,15.1670
071209
4,8
moved the nuts on td4 down .5 inches, td8 nut up 3.25 inches to equalize the tiedown extensions.
071004
12
motor faults. replaced motor.
070328 4,8 New amplifiers with hector's calibration boards installed on ldcells. Recalibrated ld cells.
070206 4 ldcells recalibrated
061114 12 ldcell 1 replaced. all load cells recalibrated 
061111 12 ldcell 1 has bad resistance on 1 of the legs of the wheatstone bridge.  ldcell2 is driving both inputs now. 
061108 12 recalibrated both load cells. load cell 1 had water in the cover at the load cell.
061101 4,8 recalibrated load cells.
061028 12 replaced ldcell2 amplifier that was blown out on 061014.
061014 8
12
lightning strike blew out td8. Had to change little star, some of the i/o boards, and some of the analog signal conditioning boards.
td12 blew out ldcell2 amplifier. This is one of the new amplifiers.
060908 12 new online ups installed in td 12. 
060831 12 forgot to swap the pots when the amps were swapped yesterday. corrected at 9:00 am
060830 12 load cell cable before the amplifiers back to normal order. ldc1-> output ldc1 now.
060824 12 load cell cables at load cell put back to normal order
load Cell cable before amplifiers switched. ( in the morning).
060823 12 switched the load cell cables as they leave the load cells.
060822 12 cleaned the load cell cables where they connect to the load cells. They were pretty dirty (full of corrosion)
060814 12 swapped td12 ldcells back to normal position. They had been crossed at the analog input since 060719. Soldcell1 is again ldcell 1. Found the jumping problem was the db25 connector at box. Cleaning this fixed it. This td has no filters.
060812 12 td12 encoder reading failed around noon after a power dip. The encoder always read 9 inches and did not report an error. When requested to move to a higher or lower position (than 9 ") the tiedown would move until it hit the limit switch (since it was looking at the encoder to see when it got there). I manually moved td 12 to 12" using the tape measure.  I moved the other two tiedowns to the correct position when td 12 is at 12". This position is close to where the tiedowns were the previous nite.
I checked the voltage on the encoder board and it was ok (5 volts). On 060814 the problem had fixed itself.
060719 12 swapped td load cell inputs to a/d signal conditioning board to see if problem with ldcell 1 jumps to load cell 2.
060628 12 td 12 ldcell 1 started to fail on 28jun06. jumped to 40 kips and then back. Remained bad thru at least 17jul06 (date of this entry).
060612 8
12,4,8
td 8 ldcell #1 amp changed.
load cells recalibrated.
td 12 ld cell 2  amplifier switched to new amplifier
060526 12 analog output values wrong (velocity feedback not eq  to requested). Replaced analog output signal conditioning brd. The same problem occurred for a short thime on 21may06. 
 The zero vel offset for the dacs jumped back up to 2016. There is something funny going on when we replace the analog output board for td12. The offset either sits around 2020 or 2000. Are we mixing the old and new boards when we replace them ??? see /home/phil/vw/datatk/pnt/ttt/tie/tieParms.log (at the bottom) for the history of the offsets.
060426 12 analog output board fails. replaced.
060420 12 digital i/o output was causing the master contactor to not close reliably (more info)
060306 12 encoder replaced. Also noted that the cable that encoder plugged into may have been dirty . cleaned with water displacer.
060303 12 replaced encoder interface board.
060302 12 td12 releases because of bad enc reading.
051027 all installed db25 connector filters for load cell inputs  and pcu .
051026 td12 replaced analog output board and analog output signal condioning board.
051014 td4 replaced amplifier. It went bad about a week ago. Recalibrated amp1 , amp2 of td4
050916 td8 the analog inputs  from td 8 had trouble during the morning of 16sep05. The plots show all of the  analog inputs vs time for the morning of 16sep05 (.ps) (.pdf) (black td12,red td4,green td8). The first 6 (+24volts, -24volts, brake24volts, ldcell1, ldcell2, and encoder 5 volts all jumped together. At 2:50 they jumped to the maxium value for a few minutes. From 3:30 to 4:00 and again at 6:10 they where at the maximum value. The velocity feedback and master amp speed monitor did not have this problem (the short spikes they have is rfi in the cabinet). The master amp current looks like it jumped up at 2:50 but not at the later times. Need to find out what these inputs have in common.
050914 td4 Load cells out of calibration (again). ldcell1 amp had dc offset of 1.5 volts. Both load cells had small oscillations in the output (with no input load). Replaced both load cell amplifiers.
050904 td12 db25 filter for pcu cable shorted out 24 volt supply. removed filter.
050902 td8 both ldcell amplifiers 8-1, 8-2 had their excitation voltage at 0. replaced both load cell amplifiers then recalibrated. This had happened a while back (probably on 25aug05.
removed the db25 filter for loadcell 8-1. it was bad (need to send away for more filters).
050902 td4 both load cell amplifiers have excitation voltage of 0. need to be fixed..
050825 td8 lightning.. replaced little star
050825 td12 lightning .. replaced encoder interface board, signal conditioning for dac, analog input fuse for input 3?
050728 td12 trouble with td 12. replaced little star. releasing.
050625 td12 lightning trouble. See writeup. Ended up replacing little start, amp.
050317 td12 replaced jack td 12. looked at prelim encoder position. moved by about .2 inches.
050317 td12 replaced encoder board on td12. The encoder value had jumped from 13 to 24 inches at around 9am.
050225 td4 td 4 jack breaks. looks like bad ball bearing. replaced jack 28feb05. reset limit switches, encoder.
050131 td12 changed filter ldcell1,2. then the values were fine. Must have been water in the filter.
050126 td12 td12 ldcell 2 value value jumped to a lower reading. this means that both load cells are reading low. 
050124 ts12 td12 ldcel 1 dropped about 10kips in 45 minutes. 
050117 td4 replaced filter on ldc1 cable. it was bad..
recalibrated all ldcells for the 3 tiedowns
041116 td4 still trouble with td 4. occasionally when command from stop, td 4 would 
1.release the brakes 
2. wait a few seconds 
3. go max speed.. this caused and overspeed fault . 
replaced amplifier. Still had trouble. 
replaced a number of little stars, had trouble with parameters. Loaded ok but when we 
cycled power on LS, they went back to the original values. 
CB2,3 tripped again. Had to disable the fan on the box. Then it worked ok. 
Tried another little star and this time it worked. Left the box off till we could 
get the box fan working.
041112 td4 jack released. kolmorgan power supply failed...replaced 15nov04. It had a short. 
also changed the dac board and signal conditioning.
040510 td4 loud noise from the jack. replaced the jack. This required dismantling the limit switches, encoder and then replaced after new jack installed. reference may have moved some. (our tape measurement were not longer valid since new jack).
040317 td8 safety relay problem was water in liftoff switches. Only had 15 volts rather then 24. Cleaned the switch and it started working.
040317 td8 db25 feed thru filter for pc. Replaced it and the pcu started working.
040315 pcu pcu was not working . brought it up to the lab to check it out. (problem was feed thru filter td8)
040315 8 safety relay was not closing with result pulse. after cycling it manually a few times it started to work. Switched pcu relay with safety relay. problem was feed water in switch. ( see 040317)
040315 4 encoder jumping to 24". started 4th march, 12 march shut off. 15mar replaced encoder intf board.
030930 mod4 changed little star td4 (battery was low). updated parameters in little star.
030806 mod 
8
recalibrated loadcells on td 8
030806 mod 
4
rotated mounting bracket for limit switches to face away from the box. Old tape  measurements no longer valid for td4.
030730 mod 
8
final  lower limit td 8 reset to be at encoder position 1.19". Ran the jack all the way to 0" encoder value and still did not hit end of jack (although it is probably pretty close).
030728 Note The limit switches were changed to a newer type that did not leak (i'm not sure what date). It looks like they were mounted in the same position as the old switches even though the mechanical layout is different. The jack positions for where the limits triggered are now different. For td8, the jack runs all the way to the end of the jack and the limit switch has still not tripped. This is what caused the limits to not trip on 030728. All of the limit switches need to be repositioned so they are at the correct jack positions.
030728 Fail lightning afternoon.
  8 blew out dac. Td went all the way up. Final limit switch did not trip.
Replaced dac. 
Final limit switch has moved by more than 1 inch. Probably not the encoder since we actually ran into the end of the jack without hitting the limit.
  4 Encoder board blown. Replaced board. Encoder before problem was 13.301. After it was 12.6?? Someone must have moved the td while board was bad. Since abs encoder was ok, position is probably ok
031111 Fail 
4
td4 drive disabled itself even though program thought it was still running. 
Luis found that the voltage regulator for the dac was shorted. Replaced dac.
021003 mod 
all
5 volt supply for dacs is now coming from a separate power supply. It used to come from the dc to dc converter on the encoder board. Change made to t12. Need to also update the others. Need to move the 5 volt encoder voltage monitoring line from the dac to the a/d.
021002 Fail lightning
  12 blew out encoder interface. replaced. The kips were reading 81,82 until the encoder board was replaced. The lcd display on 12 was also acting up.
  8 blew out encoder interface board. replaced. 
Recalibrated td8 load cells.
020923 

 

fail 
8
Axis fault always on. tiedown was oscillating. This can be from encoder init error or master contactor did not close after 20 cycles. This encoder interface board had been installed 10sep02. Replacing the encoder interface board fixed the problem.
Updated the zero velocity offsets for td12 and td8.
020910 fail lightning struck platform.
  12 signal conditioning bad. Dac may also have been blown. Swapping encoder interface board screwed up dac or signal conditioning again.. This was an old encoder interface board. roc 424.
  8 encoder bad. Dac or signal conditioning also bad.
020815 fail power dip or lightning??
  12 dac output reading -2048 counts. cycling power fixed it.
  4 dac signal conditioning board blew. Outputting -24 volts.
  8 encoder reading 24 inches. encoder interface replaced with new encoder board/pal (425q pals.
020424 
 
 

 

fail 

 

 

power dip 
td8 not responding. +24 pwr supply has 3.5 volts. Removing little star fixed it so little start was shorting out pwr supply. Put in new little star, didn't work. Put in 2nd little start. Worked but had to update parameters. After updating parameters, would only move up , not down. Maxpos was 0 so i set it to 24000. Next day rebooted and it worked ok. Looks like for some parameters you need a reboot to take affect.
011203 fail8 lightning . td 8 dead. Short in +24 volt power supply.
011101 fail8 little start digital input lspin09 bad. opto-isolator on signal conditioning board shot. This caused the master contactor to always read closed, even when it was open.
011101 all Tiedowns back on the air. They'd been off since 23sep01
011101 
 
 

 

fail 

 

 

amplifier for td8 amp had missing connections on a capacitor, resistor, and a blown capacitor. Replaced amp with repaired amp from kolmorgan. This amp had speed offset for the azimuth (it was an az motor). On td this caused and over speed. The dac output was 8 volts and the speed output (of amp) was over 11 volts. Tried adjusting a pot to bring the speed voltage to 0 but it looks like it screwed up the gain. Installed another amp and it worked ok. 
011031 

 

fail8 

 

load cell td8 amp1 jumped 1.2 volts in dc offset. (ldcell:#90407). Switched cables at output of load cells and still had the problem. Removed db25 connector at case and it worked ok. Replaced connector (these connectors have built in filters). Measured the resistance for the wheatstone bridge in td8,4 load cells. records in manual so you can easily check if the db25 connector is blown (it changes the resistance).
011030 mod Td 8,td4 now have roq424/425 encoders. They work fine. Td 12 has old roq424 encoder. it jumps in the 3rd hex digit from the right.
Td8 A/D card jumper was not cut. did it today.
011029 mod Replaced ldcell amp td8 #1. Recalibrated (but the a/d resistor had not been cut.
010923 fail lightning. tiedowns remain down until 01nov01
  12 
 
 
 

 

encoder moving in wrong direction. Changed encoder, started to move and then little start died. changed little start. Luis had measured the position at 14.7 inches. So moved td to luis's tape measurement and then set the encoder to 14.7 inches. Then went to the limits and got: 
expected     measured
1.43              1.8473        .4 inches off 
22.29          22.28             .01 inches off
  4 encoder reads 24 inches. resetting td 4 seemed to fix it , but moving 4 then made a terrible noise. Dac is shot, red light is off. Replaced dac and switched to single ended mode on signal conditioning board (no jumper and 10k resistor).
  8 encoder reads 24 inches. cycling power it then reads 0 inches. 
Lifted bus cable to dac,di1,di2 and a/d started working. looks like dac is screwing up bus. Replaced dac, signal conditioning. still troubles. looks like encoder board is messing up the bus (need to build some more encoder boards for the new encoders).

Major structural changes
date
td
description
080619
4
transmission replaced
080529
4
tiedown jack replaced
080228
12
transmission replaced. had a load knocking sound
050317
12
tiedown jack replaced
050225
4
tiedown jack replaced.

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