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Proceedings Paper

Mechanical design of SST-GATE, a dual-mirror telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array
Author(s): Jean-Laurent Dournaux; Jean-Michel Huet; Jean-Philippe Amans; Delphine Dumas; Philippe Laporte; Hélène Sol; Simon Blake
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Paper Abstract

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) project aims to create the next generation Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-ray telescope array. It will be devoted to the observation of gamma rays over a wide band of energy, from a few tens of GeV to more than 100 TeV. Two sites are foreseen to view the whole sky where about 100 telescopes, composed of three different classes, related to the specific energy region to be investigated, will be installed. Among these, the Small Size class of Telescopes, SSTs, are devoted to the highest energy region, to beyond 100 TeV. Due to the large number of SSTs, their unit cost is an important parameter. At the Observatoire de Paris, we have designed a prototype of a Small Size Telescope named SST-GATE, based on the dual-mirror Schwarzschild-Couder optical formula, which has never before been implemented in the design of a telescope. Over the last two years, we developed a mechanical design for SST-GATE from the optical and preliminary mechanical designs made by the University of Durham. The integration of this telescope is currently in progress. Since the early stages of mechanical design of SST-GATE, finite element method has been used employing shape and topology optimization techniques to help design several elements of the telescope. This allowed optimization of the mechanical stiffness/mass ratio, leading to a lightweight and less expensive mechanical structure. These techniques and the resulting mechanical design are detailed in this paper. We will also describe the finite element analyses carried out to calculate the mechanical deformations and the stresses in the structure under observing and survival conditions.

Paper Details

Date Published: 7 August 2014
PDF: 16 pages
Proc. SPIE 9151, Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation, 915102 (7 August 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2054911
Show Author Affiliations
Jean-Laurent Dournaux, Observatoire de Paris à Meudon, CNRS, Univ. Paris Diderot (France)
Jean-Michel Huet, Observatoire de Paris à Meudon, CNRS, Univ. Paris Diderot (France)
Jean-Philippe Amans, Observatoire de Paris à Meudon, CNRS, Univ. Paris Diderot (France)
Delphine Dumas, Observatoire de Paris à Meudon, CNRS, Univ. Paris Diderot (France)
Philippe Laporte, Observatoire de Paris à Meudon, CNRS, Univ. Paris Diderot (France)
Hélène Sol, Observatoire de Paris à Meudon, CNRS, Univ. Paris Diderot (France)
Simon Blake, Durham Univ. (United Kingdom)
CTA Consortium (Germany)


Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9151:
Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation
Ramón Navarro; Colin R. Cunningham; Allison A. Barto, Editor(s)

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