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Maintenance schedule

The wind tunnel is a low-maintenance facility, but it has parts that drift, parts that loosen, and parts whose state needs to be re-verified periodically. The cadences below are starting points; adjust based on actual usage.

Per-run

  • Pre-run checklist (Operations → Pre-run checklist) — every time the tunnel is energized.
  • Stop-path verification — first run of the day; all three paths (ramp-stop, E-Stop, mains kill) must work.
  • Test-section sweep — before any model is loaded.

Per-week (during active research)

  • Visual inspection of cabling between the main switch, the VFD enclosure, the motor, and the cDAQ chassis. Any visible damage halts further runs until repaired.
  • Verify static IPs on the lab PC — Ethernet 4 = 192.168.50.100/24. Windows occasionally resets adapter settings during updates.
  • Verify drive parameters are intact — 10.01 = 10, 11.03 = 8, group 51 IPs as documented in Reference → Parameter index. A two-minute check from the keypad or via a parameter dump script.

Per-month

  • Smoke generator fluid level — check before fluid runs out mid-experiment.
  • Glycol fluid age — replace fluid older than 12 months; old fluid changes density and dispersion behaviour.
  • Laser power supply 12 V calibration — verify the supply still reads 12.0 V; a drifting supply means a drifting beam power and possibly a Class-2 boundary crossing.
  • Run a ref1_sweep.ps1 sanity check at the existing calibration point (e.g. 400 RPM) to confirm the drive is still tracking the calibrated mapping. If the wind speed has drifted by more than 5 %, schedule a calibration refresh.
  • Update door placard if hazards, contacts, or chemical inventory date have changed.

Per-quarter

  • Full calibration refresh — re-run ref1_sweep.ps1 and rpm_velocity_sweep.ps1, update constants if any have drifted. See Calibration refresh.
  • PGB sting matrix sanity check — apply a known load (calibration weight) to each axis and verify the matrix produces the expected force/moment.
  • NI-DAQmx driver / hardware re-seat — verify the cDAQ chassis is recognized cleanly in Measurement & Automation Explorer; re-seat modules if any show as faulted.
  • Belt / coupling visual inspection on the motor-fan drive train. Replace fluids/grease only if the maintenance docs for the specific unit require it; the motor itself is sealed.

Per-year

  • Drive parameter dump committed to the repo so we have an authoritative snapshot. Use code/wind_tunnel_control/ style scripting to read groups 10, 11, 22, 51, 99, save to CSV, file in WT_MS_<n>/captures/.
  • Full hazard audit — re-walk the safety pages, update for any new equipment, re-train operators, refresh the placard.
  • Document review — re-read this manual, the SOP, and the project notes. Anything stale or wrong gets edited or removed.

After every incident

Independently of the schedule, any of these triggers an immediate inspection:

  • A drive fault that took more than one reset to clear.
  • A model that came loose or moved in the test section.
  • A person entering the exhaust path or the airflow path while the motor was energized.
  • Any electrical event: tripped breaker, smell of burning, visible arcing.
  • Smoke / glycol overexposure symptoms in an operator or bystander.

Each gets a new WT_MS_<n>/ milestone with the chronological log, root cause, and what changed.