JUN 11: We raised and coupled the service tray to the HVFT mock-up and measured the force required to bring all the HVFT-ST connectors together (see photos for setup details).

• Two manual scissor jacks were used.
• A 300kg capacity crane scale in custom bracket was used to measure the compression force. The scale is equipped with a 'HOLD' function that displays the peak force measured.
• We found that the raising/coupling force on the HVFT side would drop if the RIB side jack was inched up. This was observed initially without the 'HOLD' function enabled on the scale.
• The peak coupling force measured by the crane scale was 1737N.
• The force increased gradually as we get more engagement on the bus bars and multilam pin arrays.
• With only the first layers of multilams engaged the force was roughly half at 800-900N.
• The raising operation was done slowly, with one person each operating the scissor jacks and a third person instructing the jack operators to ensure that the service tray is raised level to the FE/HVFT.
• The support post/pin of the service tray could be used as a visual guide for whether the service tray is plane to the FE.
  • Alternatively we could equip the two 'jacks' (base jig + one of the manual jacks in practice) with load sensors to make sure it is loaded evenly.
  • Alternatively we could attach an electronic level sensor to the service tray to make sure that it is being raised up evenly.
• The staubli pins connected together without issue, the lead-in features were sufficient to establish the connection.
• The 48pin connector pins also connected together without issue (at least from a visual inspection all pins seemed to engage fully and properly).
• During coupling we noted that some of the capped VCR lines came under compression and added extra force to the raising operation 'jammed', this should not be a problem in the real operation since the extra height of the caps won't exist.
• The bus bars were left 'loose' on the plate (M6 mounting screws weren't tightened) during the coupling operation. After full coupling we realized that there isn't enough clearance for an allen key to fit and tighten some of these screws.
• We will return after the 'de-coupling' test next week to do up these screws and set the busbar ends in position.
• More work needs to be done to create a setup to properly measure the dropping/de-coupling force for the HVFT-ST connections.