Jerome Rifkin | Mechanical Engineer

Senior Mechanical Engineer, High Precision Devices

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Led a team of 4-6 engineers and techs to design and build two prototype dry, cryogenic, ground-based, submillimeter-wavelength telescopes for a top U.S. research institution. I owned this project. I inherited a flawed conceptual design, took it most of the way back to a blank sheet of paper, moved forward through risk analysis, high-level design, design of experiments, data analysis and concept validation. I did the detailed design of the vast majority of the complex and inter-related subsystems. I presented most of the work during critical design review and I wrote of all documentation, provided initial customer support, and had oversight of manufacturing, assembly, packing, and shipping.

• Two target mirrors at 4 Kelvin

▪ Targets were mounted to interchangeable cartridges

▪ All 6 targets and cartridges had to work in either of two positions

▪ No adjustments were allowed as part of swapping cartridges, just change over and go

• Filter wheel/motion stage at 50K

▪ Bearing spindle assembly had .0002” runout, allowing for precise beam-line placement

▪ Bearings were tested to over 100,000 cycles at 50K

• Telescope “chief ray” on target within 0.25 mm and 0.1 degree, at ~2 meters target distance

▪ Tolerance was held on one primary target and 3 reflected targets

• Thermal strap design of 10 W/K at 50K

• Deliverables included:

• Full CAD models and drawings

• Complete subsystem ICDs

• Complete operating manual

• Full “in-cabin” installation manual

• Two units produced as prototypes, 8 more to be produced as products