Methodology of calculating on-board equipment arranging coordinates with preliminary estimate of on-board cable system mass

Abstract

The article proposes a method for optimizing the layout of on-board equipment in spacecraft compartments according to the criterion of the minimum mass of the on-board cable system. The purpose of the work is to create a unified methodology for placing devices and verifying compliance with technical requirements. Methodological calculations are presented regarding the accounting of connections between devices and with other elements of systems, as well as a preliminary estimate of the mass of the on-board cable system, as a problem of variational calculus with elements of topological optimization. An algorithm for placing devices is based on their connection diagram with the ability to control the implementation of ergonomic, installation, size, mass centering requirements for the layout. Testing was carried out using the example of a spacecraft with a cylindrical compartment. It was organized in several stages in order to trace the change in the mass of the on-board cable system when the devices were displaced to meet the ergonomic, installation, and size requirements. The results of the tests made it possible to improve the procedure for determining the coordinates of instrument arrangement and the values of overall clearances. They also made it possible to compare the resulting mass of cables with statistics. The proposed methodology continues to be used in experimental testing by design engineers; some of its provisions will be developed in further research.

Keywords

• on-board equipment
• on-board cable system
• equipment layout
• spacecraft compartment
• electric schematics
• task of arrangement
• routing task