This year, NASA Glenn Research Center’s Flywheel Development Team experimentally demonstrated the Integrated Power and Attitude Control System, a full-power, high-speed, two-flywheel system, simultaneously regulating a power bus and providing a commanded output torque. Operation- and power-mode transitions were demonstrated up to 2000 W in charge and 1100 W in discharge, while the output torque was simultaneously regulated between ±0.8 N-m.
D1 and G2 flywheel module in High Energy Flywheel Facility.
The G2 and D1 flywheels--magnetically levitated carbon-fiber wheels with permanent magnet motors--were used for the experiment. The units were mounted on an air-bearing table in Glenn’s High Energy Flywheel Facility, and the operational speed range was between 20,000 and 60,000 rpm. The bus voltage was regulated at 125 V during charge and discharge, and charge-discharge and discharge-charge transitions were demonstrated by changing the amount of power that the power supply provided between 300 and 0 watts. In a satellite system, this would be the equivalent of changing the amount of energy that the solar array provides to the spacecraft. In addition to regulating the bus voltage, we simultaneously controlled the net torque produced by the two flywheel modules. Both modules were mounted on an air table that was restrained by a load cell. The load cell measured the force on the table, and the torque produced by the two flywheels on the table could be calculated from that measurement, yielding net torques from -0.8 to 0.8 N-m. This was the first Glenn demonstration of the Integrated Power and Attitude Control System at high power levels and speeds.
Flywheels have advantages over other energy storage systems for missions that require high power, long life, or broad operating temperature range. System studies have quantified the benefits of flywheels for applications like the International Space Station, the Momentum Exchange Tether Program, and lunar deployment.
Find out more about Glenn’s research:
Structural Mechanics and Dynamics Branch:
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/5000/MaterialsStructures/structural/
Glenn contacts:
Raymond F. Beach, 216-433-5320, Raymond.F.Beach@nasa.gov; and James F. Soeder, 216-433-5328, James.F.Soeder@nasa.gov
University of Toledo contact:
Ralph H. Jansen, 216-433-6038, Ralph.H.Jansen@nasa.gov
Author:
Ralph H. Jansen
Headquarters program office:
Exploration Systems
Programs/Projects:
Energetics
Last updated: October 16, 2006
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