Infrastructure

The operation of TIGO requires

• electricity to power the telescopes, air-conditioners and non-critical devices,
• uninterruptable electrical power for the atomic clocks and several computers,
• communication lines, typically internet connection to download observation schedules and related informations and to provide data to the analysis centers,
• water for heat exchanger of the helium compressor at the super conducting gravity meter and for human use,
• a protected property which is accessable with heavy trucks to bring the containers to the platform.

Electrical Power Supply

In case at the remote site the power supply is instable or insufficient, TIGO can be powered autonomously by its Diesel generators. Six 25 kW generators are available and can be used according to the necessary load. The maximum load is expected to be about 120kW, that means that always one generator can be maintained without interruption of the operation (Fig. 56).

Atomic clocks and some computers should always be powered. Therefore an additional solar energy supply, consisting of 4 kW solar panels mounted on top of one of the containers and the necessary batteries, realizes the uninterruptable power supply. The batteries can be charged by the generators as well (Fig. 57).

The operation and maintenance of the energy module of TIGO requires expertise in electricity, power generators, diesel engines, photovoltaic and batteries.

Figure 56: Inside the TIGO power plant. Six generators can be used in emergency cases, when the public power supply becomes unstable.

Figure 57: The TIGO solar panels for the uninteruptable power supply.