Telescope control system
AssigneeBausch & Lomb Incorporated
InventorsJohn J. Krewalk, Eric C. Silverberg
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A telescope control system is set forth for controlling the orientation of a telescope under control of a microprocessor. The telescope control includes drives to pivot the telescope about each of the declination (altitude) and right ascension (azimuth) axes in stepped increments, each increment corresponding to a control pulse. The microprocessor generates and issues the control pulses from stored data to position the telescope for viewing a selected celestial object. Control pulses are based upon and counted from an index position and/or the preceding position of the telescope. Manual override is provided, the microprocessor accounting for pulses generated during manual override.
Claims18
A control for a telescope mounted for pivotal motion about at least one axis, the control comprising:
- means for driving the telescope to pivot about the axis, said driving means including a stepper motor coupled to the telescope to pivot the telescope about said axes in discrete, stepped increments, each increment corresponding to a control pulse issued to the driving means;
- means for issuing an index signal when the telescope is at a reference position;
- and
- means for generating control pulses and issuing said pulses to the driving means for controlling the telescope to pivot about the axis, said control means including means for accounting for pulses issued relative to said reference position to control the position of the telescope.
A control for a telescope mounted to pivot about each of a declination axis and right ascension axis, the control comprising:
- first means for driving the telescope to pivot about the declination axis in discrete, stepped increments, each increment corresponding to a control pulse received by the first driving means;
- means for establishing and generating an index signal when the telescope is at an index declination position;
- second means for driving the telescope to pivot about the right ascension axis in discrete, stepped increments, each increment corresponding to a control pulse received by the second driving means;
- means for establishing and generating an index signal when the telescope is at an index ascension position;
- means for generating and issuing control pulses to each of the first and second driving means from the respective index positions to pivot the telescope about each of the axes to a selected position.
A control for a telescope mounted to pivot about each of a right ascension and declination axes, the control comprising:
- first means for driving the telescope to pivot about the declination axis in discrete, stepped increments, each increment corresponding to a control pulse;
- means for establishing and generating an index signal when the telescope is at an index declination position;
- second means for driving the telescope to pivot about the right ascension axis in discrete, stepped increments each increment corresponding to a control pulse;
- and
- means for establishing and generating an index signal when the telescope is at an index ascension position;
- a microprocessor having a memory storing data representing the relative positions in said increments of at least two objects from the respective index positions, the microprocessor adapted to generate and issue a number of pulses to each of the driving means derived from said data to position the telescope from said index positions for viewing a selected one of the objects.
A control for a telescope mounted for pivotal motion about at least one axis, the control comprising:
- an electric stepper motor having a pinion meshing with a gear coupled to the telescope to pivot the telescope about the axis in discrete, stepped increments, each increment corresponding to a control pulse issued to the motor;
- a spring having a constant spring rate imposing a bias on either of said gear and pinion to prevent backlash;
- and
- means for generating control pulses and issuing said pulses to the driving means for controlling the telescope to pivot about the axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.