Principle and experimental research on vibration reduction of flexible solar array using reaction flywheel

Abstract

Purpose The rest-to-rest movements for the spacecraft, such as attitude adjustment and orbital maneuver, are likely to excite residual vibration of the flexible appendages, which may affect the attitude accuracy and even result in severe structural damage. This paper presents an approach to attenuating the vibration of flexible solar array by using reaction flywheel. Design/methodology/approach The reaction flywheel installed on solar array is served as an actuator to provide reaction torque to the structure according to the designed feedback control law. This torque can be considered as an artificial damping. Experiment on a scale model of the solar array is firstly performed to verify the effectiveness of this method. Numerical simulation on finite element model of a full-scale solar array is subsequently carried out to confirm the validity of this method for practical engineering application. Findings The vibration suppression effect on the structure by using reaction flywheel is deduced by theoretical analysis. Results from both experiment and numerical simulation reveal that the efficiency of vibration attenuation is promoted. Research limitations/implications Improvements on control law are left for further study. Additionally, only the first-order bending vibration of the flexible solar array is attenuated, and further study is required for other types of vibration suppression. Practical implications An effective method is proposed for spacecraft designers to actively suppress the vibration of the flexible solar array. Originality/value A novel active vibration reduction scheme is proposed by using reaction flywheel to suppress vibration of the flexible solar array. This paper fulfills a source of theoretical analysis and experimental studies for vibration reduction measure design and provides practical help for the spacecraft designers.