PAGE CONTENTS
Objectives
This activity has been performed to study and to demonstrate the potential of Magneto Rheological fluids in order to provide tuneable speed regulator solutions. The development has covered the design, manufacture, and test of an Engineering Model of a self-standing speed regulator unit, based on Magneto Rheological fluid technology, suitable for the control and the regulation of the deployment speed of future Telecom platform appendages. Testing of the Engineering Model has included lifecycle, full vibration, shock, and thermal vacuum cycling.
Main Technical Requirements
The following requirements have been verified by performance and function tests:
The Speed Regulator shall be able to dissipate 2.0 J w/o exceeding the damper allowable loading within the first 5 degrees of travel.
The Speed Regulator shall perform without failure at deployment speed between 0.01 and 0.5 rad/s.
Same rate in CW and CCW direction within 5% under the same environmental conditions.
Main characteristics – MARF shall be stable (within 10%) throughout the test campaign.
Maximum friction in the system shall be 1 Nm.
MARF shall not use more than 5W of electrical power.
Challenges
Identification of the optimum magneto-rheological fluid – maximum performance, low settling effects, compatibility with specified environment;
Fine tuning of gap size/disc spacing for optimizing rheological performance;
Optimization of internal seals, avoid leakage effects, keep mechanical resistive torque low;
Filling with oil, define adequate procedure to prevent internal voids;
Keep complexity and mass as low as possible.
Plan
Some technical improvements of the realized concept need to be carried out, like mass optimization, reduction of the gap size and of the total mass. Furthermore, for transferring the development into a commercial exploitation phase, the following activities will be needed:
- Tailoring the product towards specific customer requirements
- Formal qualification of materials, processes and of the unit
Current Status
The development was started early 2011 and completed mid 2015. Its main objective was to design, analyse, manufacture, and test an Engineering Model of a Magneto Rheological Fluid Speed Regulator for space applications. A Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 4 was achieved, i.e. proof of concept and engineering model validation.
