Aerospatiale has developed magnetic bearings for 15 years in application to momentum and reaction wheels for spacecraft. This technology has been flight-proven on the SPOT satellite. A newly developed magnetic bearing reaction wheel is described here. The main features are a compact, very stiff, magnetic bearing, a brushless d.c. drive motor with optical commutation, fully redundant built in electronics and a locking mechanism for securing the rotor during spacecraft launch. The unit also incorporates ball bearings to provide rotational support in case the magnetic suspension fails or is switched off while the rotor is spinning. The magnetic bearings is a permanent magnet type operating in the attraction mode. Axial translation and cross axis rotational movements of the rotor are constrained passively while radial departures from centered position are controlled in an active way. The requisite active radial forces are set up by electromagnetic coils which operate by modulating the permanent magnet flux. The main performances achieved by the unit are given. These are very favourable and make this wheel one of the most advanced of its kind in existance today. The same technology is very suitable for other applications.
An advanced and low cost 2 degrees of freedom magnetic bearing flywheel
Ein fortschrittliches und preiswertes Magnetlagersystem mit 2 Freiheitsgraden fuer ein Schwungrad
1987
6 Seiten, 8 Bilder, 4 Quellen
Conference paper
English
Development of a low loss flywheel magnetic bearing
Automotive engineering | 1979
|Automotive engineering | 1995
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