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 January 2018 |
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During the coldest winter in at least
25 years, Dream finishes two more zeroDELTA™ aspheres in its
dedicated and extremely stable polishing/testing room. |
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Shown to the
right is a 20" f3.5 paraboloidal mirror; 3.0" edge
height, <20 pounds. |
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Click on the
image to gain access to extraordinary videos that illustrate
the stability of both Dream's polishing/testing room and a large
zeroDELTA™ lightweight mirrors. |
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Elbit
Systems (Israel)
visits Dream to learn more about its core technologies and potential
use for space telescopes. |
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- November 15th, 2017 |
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European telescope manufacturer receives
first Dream 10" f3 zeroDELTA™ primary mirror
blank for their Cassegrain telescopes. |
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"Can I say: holy cow!!
This looks awesome!! Can't wait to get my hands on it." |
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- after receiving high-resolution
photos prior to shipping the mirror. |
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"Just a quick update:
mirror blank was delivered. It looks marvelous. Thank You!" |
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- November 10th, 2017 |
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Dream finishes two more lightweight
aspheres: 16" f3.0 and 16" f3.75. |
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Both mirrors were produced,
fully processed & finished in-house. |
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They have the same smooth
Mid-Spatial Frequency (MSF) and surface roughness errors as shown
on this page. |
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- October, 2017 |
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247mm CA, f2.27 engineered
lightweight mirror that was fully processed inside Dream. The
view is through the bubble-free optical face. |
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It is one of three different
mirrors that Dream designed, engineered, and processed for this
AO project, which is looking to achieve 0.3 arc-second (free-seeing
limit) resolution across the science field of the 2.2m telescope. |
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Dream also designed
and did full engineering of the dedicated carbon fiber and carbon
fiber sandwich core mirror mounts for each mirror. |
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Dream delivers a fast &
demanding 300mm CA f3 (system f-ratio) Ritchey-Chrétien optical set for visual spectrum
application. |
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M1
conic = -1.897, M2 conic = -98.450 |
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These high departure lightweight
mirrors were designed and engineered from scratch, based on the
customer's support hardware and requirements. Both Dream mirrors
are bubble-free and have a double-conical profile which
feature tapered ribs, numerous rib heights and thicknesses (all
optimized through iterative FEM/FEA, for both polishing displacement
and gravity displacement). Dream
not only designs the mirrors but also casts, anneals and can
process them in-house. This allows Dream complete design control,
as well as empirical knowledge that is fed back into current
and future designs. We have been designing, engineering and
using lightweight mirrors in our carbon fiber instruments since
2003. |
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The photo above shows the as-cast,
bubble-free mirror blank, prior to any work being done to it.
Dream can directly cast convex, plano and concave surfaces. |
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Dream casts and finishes it's fastest
mirror to date, f1.376,
for an Adaptive Optics (AO) project. The
bubble-free mirror is six times lower in areal density than Hubble's
M1. This 16.7" physical
OD mirror weighs just 9.5 pounds and is nearly 6:1 aspect ratio
over its CA. |
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This is one of three mirrors
(396mm f1.376, 247mm f2.26 and 393mm plano) that Dream produced
for this client. Each is mounted in a dedicated CF and CFSC mirror
mount, engineered and fabricated inside Dream. |
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Dream did all work to this mirror
inside our dedicated 7000 square foot facility in Nazareth, PA.
This includes: design & engineering, casting & annealing
of the raw mirror blank, generation, grinding and polishing. |
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Dream mirror finished to higher
quality level than Hubble's M2. |
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* M2 for 24" Ritchey-Chrétien
telescope produced by Dream
Telescopes finished to exceptional
quality and specification tolerances.Ritchey
Chretien |
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* Convex DC mirror tested with QED SSIa,
using the 2nd most powerful interferometer on the market. Ritchey-Chretien optics |
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* L/125 RMS surface, minimum L/20 P-V surface
(632.8nm). |
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* Better than 10/5 scratch/dig. Ritchey-Chretien mirrors, Ritchey-Chretien
telescope |
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* Radius off by only 15 microns; desired
- 629.4mm, actual - 629.385mm. |
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"We shall look back and see how inefficient,
how primitive it was to work with thick, solid mirrors, obsolete
mirror-curves, ..." -
George Willis Ritchey 1928: JRASC,
Vol. XXII, No. 9, November 1928. |
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New polishing & testing room
complete. |
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* The new space separates out initial generation
& grinding work from polishing. |
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* The new space allows vertical testing
over the machines, which has both time and mechanical advantages.
Not to mention a substantial reduction in risk to the engineered,
lightweight mirrors. |
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* The new space grows polishing and it's
required testing by a full magnitude. |
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* It is the most insulated space within
Dream's three story building. Even interior walls are insulated. |
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* We will continue fitting out the room
with equipment as we also work with new non-contact sensors that
have 20nm resolution, which will be used for numerous pieces
of equipment. |
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* Generation & grinding is now double
it's original space. |
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We are currently working on mirrors ranging from f1.376 to f5.5,
with a series of f0.5 concave mirrors that will be cast soon.
These mirrors are for everything from Newtonians to Dall-Kirkhams
to Classical Cassegrains to Ritchey-Chretiens. Dream can provide
full engineering for everything from the lightweight mirror to
the carbon fiber mirror support and beyond. We work on applications
ranging from IR tracking telescopes & optics to Adaptive
Optics (AO) systems for multi-meter telescopes. |
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Dream has nearly completed the
upgrade of its largest advanced composite oven. |
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* Increasing air flow with a new, 700 pound
3-phase blower. |
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* Increasing heat capacity with all new,
3-phase heating elements that are 330% more powerful than the
originals. |
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* The upgraded oven will ramp faster and
be able to achieve much higher temperatures than before. |
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These upgrades are
needed because of Dream's continued growth and new capabilities
to supply meter-class telescopes. |
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Work is complete. 480 volt, 3-phase power
is up and running at Dream's new building. |
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Three transformers had to be added to the local service in order
to provide Dream with the power it requires for new equipment,
upgrading the large composite oven and future equipment (growth)
at Dream. |
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Dream is capable of everything
from creating the initial optical design to FEA of the lightweight
mirror blanks and dedicated carbon fiber mirror supports to providing
it's customers with completely finished opto-mechanical instruments. |
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The new, 3-phase, large casting & annealing
furnace arrives. |
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The interior dimensions of the
new furnace are 1.4 meters in diameter by 0.9 meters in height. |
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Dream will be producing a 0.85
meter physical diameter mirror for a customer's custom telescope. |
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Dream is proud to add three more to our team. |
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* Former Boeing Mechanical Engineer with
extensive FEM/FEA expertise in Carbon Fiber. |
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* Optical Engineer with 30+ years experience
in defense-related optical systems. |
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* Certified Composites Technician. |
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To read their full bios, click
here. |
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QED
Optics to display another engineered, lightweight Dream mirror
at SPIE's Photonics West, in San Francisco, CA. |
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Dream casts & anneals three ~24"
mirrors within three month's time.
The new building is already benefiting both Dream companies.
This highlights the reason Dream started casting its own mirror
blanks in 2008; to take the place of outside vendors that could
not deliver this type of product. |
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Dream is currently doing generation
work on these three mirrors, as well as various round and elliptical
M2's. |
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Dream successfully casts f2.5 M1 and
f2.78 M2 for Dream Telescopes' 24" telescope for NASA project.
This telescope will receive lasercom
from LADEE, a spacecraft that just last month started orbiting the Moon.
A basic overview can be found here. Additional information and a video can be
found here. |
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Dream is proud to be involved
with this and other projects at the leading-edge of technology. |
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The telescope will be installed
in 2014. |
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displays 16" Dream mirror at Optifab in Rochester, NY. |
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Final figuring of this mirror
will be performed by QED Optics using their patented MRF
technology. |
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2013: Dream moves
into a new facility. This 3-story shop is
three times larger than the previous building. It provides both
Dream companies with much needed utilities and space, with plenty
of room to grow. |
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The space and additional features
that the new facility offers are needed as Dream continues to
become more vertically integrated, relying less on outside vendors. |
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2013: Over the
past two years Dream has brought all
generation work in-house for Dream
Cellular mirror blanks. Generation
work includes; plano-grinding the back of the mirrors (as well
as the face for plano mirrors), edging, beveling and grinding
of convex and concave optical faces. Dream has designed and built
machines that are processing the mirrors using loose abrasives,
diamond-based tooling and computer grinding & polishing machines. |
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Dream is currently working on
setting up vertical testing that will occur over it's polishing/figuring
machines. In late November of 2013 4D
Technologies will be visiting Dream
to demonstrate one of their dynamic interferometers that is specifically
designed to show mid-spatial frequency errors. This demonstration
will show how it performs in Dream's facility and on multiple
Dream engineered, lightweight mirrors. |
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2013:
Dream is currently polishing a custom 16" f3 Dream mirror that will fly
aboard a Gulfstream V jet. The completely
bubble-free mirror is 16.5" physical OD, 2.5" tall
and weighs 9.8 pounds. The mirror is a double-conical design
with back flanges. It's areal density is 6 times lower than Hubble's
lightweight M1. |
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The telescope will fly in 2014. |
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Press Release
- May 12th, 2010: CTE
of Dream mirror is independantly tested. The average CTE of Dream's lightweight
mirrors is 2.6-2.7x10-6/K. Pyrex and Borofloat 33 have a CTE
that is 22.6% higher. |
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Press Release
- Late-April 2010: Dream
obtains another first light with
an instrument designed and built in-house, utilizing Dream's
lightweight mirrors. Low mass mirrors allow instruments to hold
optical collimation all-sky, on fast instrument using large CCD
chip. Rapid thermal equalization promotes high quality optical
performance, due to the engineered mirrors. |
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Press Release
- Mid-April 2010: Dream
debuts recently designed 24"
mirror that weighs 28 pounds. |
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Press Release |
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Nazareth, PA, November
18th, 2009 - Dream is proud to be recognized by the editors of
Sky & Telescope Magazine as a Hot Product for 2010 for our
technology and achievements . |
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About Dream
Dream Cellular, LLC. was formed in 2008 in order to provide its
sister company, Dream
Telescopes & Accessories Inc., with a more reliable, higher quality and more
consistent lightweight mirror blanks. Designed, engineered, and
produced in-house, Dream's lightweight blanks incorporate design
features not found in any other lightweight glass mirrors. Dream
uses extensive engineering in both design, casting and annealing
to produce highly efficient cellular optics that have a much
faster Thermal
Time Constant
(TTC) than monolithic optics or thick-featured "lightweight"
substrates. Extensive structural engineering and FEM/FEA is utilized
to reduce polishing and gravity displacement. The extensive engineering
related to polishing displacements makes Dream's blanks uniquely
workable by opticians. Dream has worked with major glass manufacturers
to create the first FEA-based annealing schedules of any commercial
company offering cellular optics. Due to their much thinner rib
structures and 3-4x greater surface area, these optics equalize
(TTC) far faster than standard monolithic optics and their light
weight design also makes them easier to support in a rigid fashion.
Design features such as axial support locations for traditional
flotation cells, insert points with recessed protrusions for
flexures, flat profile details in key areas for bipod flexure
attachment and a host of other features can all be designed into
the substrates, per customer specification. These features allow
for easier mounting of the optics and can help the optic maintain
a higher level of figure quality. Because the entire process
is done in-house, Dream can also very accurately control the
as-designed vs. as-cast variances and produce optics that meet
or exceed spec. Dream's extensive engineering and innovative
designs, coupled with our casting tolerances, means that Dream's
engineered cellular blanks are truly unique in the world. Dream
knows firsthand how detrimental unreliable deliveries and large
casting variances can be. Dream prides itself in producing the
most optimized and modern version of the nearly 100 year old
technology that is lightweight mirrors. Contact Dream to discuss
your latest OEM or individual project. |
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