Quasi-static panel deployment and retraction using electromagnetic force in satellite missions

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel control technique for a new panel quasi-static deployment and retraction method using electromagnetic force. This panel system is modeled as a multibody dynamic system which will be used for numerical simulations. Although the electromagnetic deployment has various beneficial points, it still has a major technical issue that vibration on panels continues for a certain time, and hence its motion does not converge quickly. To eliminate or damp these vibrations, we propose both feed-forward and feedback control methods using magnetism generated by electronic current. These methods can successfully reduce convergence time of deployment motion by at most 60 percents. Additionally, to realize feedback control, it is required to estimate the state variables of panels, that is, the angle between the panels. For that purpose, we introduce a new approach to determine these angles by sensing electromagnetic field generated by the deployment system with a magnetometer. This new method accomplishes the determination of the angles between the panels to an accuracy of at worst four degrees and one degree on average.

Keywords

• space engineering
• deployable structure
• retraction
• quasi-static
• electromagnetic force