View of the Mobile Platform
(Courtesy ESA) |
APCO Technologies SA was in charge of the development, manufacture and assembly of the mobile platform for the "Batiment Assemblage Final" within the "Ensemble de Lancement Ariane" (ELA3) located at the Centre Spatial Guyane (CSG) in Kourou.
The BAF - ELA3 upper part is equipped with two lifting platforms of 24,7 m long and 15,75 m wide.
The weight of the platforms is 100 t each. Each platform is driven by four winches. The redundant reeving of these four winches makes it possible each platform to function, in degraded mode, on three winches.
Redundant reeving is as follows:
View of the BAF
(Courtesy ESA)
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Each winch is equipped with two Ø 36 mm cables, reeved once. |
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Each cable, in a form of loop, support one corner of the platform. So each corner of the platform is supported by two loops of cable coming from two different winches. |
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The load placed on the platforms is limited to 4,5 t. |
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The platforms move over a range of 23,7 m at a speed of 4,8 m/min or in low speed at 1,2 m/min. |
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Each platform can move independently of the other. |
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A system of limit switches ensures that the two platforms cannot collide. |
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