A Single Motor-Driven Focusing Mechanism with Flexure Hinges for Small Satellite Optical Systems

Abstract

For earth observation, the optical systems in small satellites are crucial to obtain high- resolution images. However, the alignment between a primary and a secondary mirror in an optical system can be disturbed due to the harsh environments inside vehicles or space (i.e., vibrations, shock loading during launch, dramatic temperature changes, or high vacuum pressure in space). To compensate for such undesired deformations, a focusing mechanism should be embedded into the optical system. In this paper, we propose a novel Single Motor-Driven Focusing mechanism with Flexure Hinges (SMFH), allowing the Flexure Hinge (FlexHe) to displace in the longitudinal direction. The presented FlexHe incorporates radial zig-zag-patterned slits to achieve flexibility, and preloading of the hinge structures to reduce the resulting hysteresis. To investigate an optimal configuration of FlexHe, a numerical simulation is performed by means of ANSYS 19.2. The variation of Modulation Transfer Function (MTF), corresponding to an image resolution, is evaluated by using an optics simulation program (CODE-V). The experimental setups are built by exploiting the fabricated SMFH and five LVDT (Linear Variable Differential Transformer) sensors with a high resolution of 0.031 µm. As a result, hysteresis can be reduced up to 6.52% with a pre-stretched length of 3 µm. The proposed SMFH allows not only the De-space to displace up to 23.93 µm, but also the De-center and the Tilt to achieve the desired displacements of 5.20 µm and 88.45 µrad, respectively. Conclusively, the SMFH shows promising characteristics to embed a feedback control, due to its high resolution (up to 0.1 µm) for De-space with the MTF of 37%.