Flywheels have been under consideration to be used for energy storage purposes in space applications to replace electrochemical batteries. An electrical machine is used as a motor to store kinetic energy when the solar energy is available, and then the stored energy is converted back to electrical energy by running the machine as a generator when the solar energy is no longer available. A control algorithm for these systems is proposed in this paper. The proposed method uses a current reference rather than a speed reference in the motor mode. A method is also suggested to properly determine the current reference to overcome the losses and to create constant acceleration. The proposed algorithm is tested on an experimental set-up and the results are given.
Flywheel energy storage systems have become an important research subject in recent years. They are also considered for space applications instead of hazardous and bulky electrochemical batteries. In this paper, a flywheel energy storage system has been designed for satellite attitude control systems. Power requirements of a small commercial satellite have been used as the starting point of the design. The designed system includes a BLDC motor. The machine is run as a motor for 60 min and the stored energy is discharged during the following 30 min to simulate low orbit satellite operation. Experimental results show that these systems can be used in space applications.
Large torque amplification and momentum storage capacity are the two basic properties that make control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) superior when compared to the reaction and momentum wheels commonly used in spacecraft attitude control. Software and Hardware in the Loop (HIL) tests are carried out for the verification of the requirements of CMG based attitude control systems (ACS). In order to have even a more realistic results, CMG based ACS HIL tests are performed on three axis air bearing test bed by taking into account the restrictions of the air bearing table used. The results of these simulations and tests are presented.
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