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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 559 records · Page 31
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1984

The dynamics and control of large flexible space structures, part 7

A preliminary Eulerian formulation of the in-plane dynamics of the proposed spacecraft control laboratory experiment configuration is undertaken when the mast is treated as a cantilever type beam and the reflector as a lumped mass at the end of the beam. Frequency and mode shapes are obtained for the open loop model of the beam system and the stability of closed loop control systems is analyzed by both frequency and time domain techniques. Environmental disturbances due to solar radiation pressure are incorporated into models of controlled large flexible orbiting platforms. Thermally induced deformations of simple beam and platform type structures are modelled and expressions developed for the disturbance torques resulting from the interaction of solar radiation pressure. Noise effects in the deterministic model of the hoop/column antenna system are found to cause a degradation in system performance. Appropriate changes in the ratio of plant noise to the measurement noise and/or changes in the control weighting matrix elements can improve transient and steady state performance.

Bainum, P. M.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Ground test article for deployable space structure systems

The ground test article fabrication and assembly plan was completed by Santek Engineering, Inc. The plan was reviewed and accepted by Rockwell during an on-site visit to the Santek facility. Raw material and hardware orders were placed by Santek in July. Approximately 98% of the raw materials and 10% of the hardware deliveries have been completed. Several material and hardware substitutions were requested by Santek due to no-bid responses from suppliers or excessive costs for limited quantity items. These substitutions were evaluated and approved by Rockwell Engineering and Material and Process and are being incorporated into the drawing package. Santek started fabrication of detail parts in mid-August. Their current resource utilization is at approximately 50% of the planned eventual commitment and is increasing at a rate commensurate with the fabrication and assembly plan. At this writing, Santek's estimate of completion is 03%. During verification testing of the diagonal member joint, in a program funded by Rockwell discretionary funds, the axial load to unlock the joint was found to increase significantly after a few cycles of operation. This was attributed to galling, poor lubrication, and locking pin geometry. A change of materials, lubricant, and modification of the pin geometry reduced the unlocking load and provided repeatability after 50 cycles of operation. This new design is being implemented into the ground test article.

Malloy, G. D.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Control methodologies for large space structures

The objectives of this research were to develop techniques of controlling a dc-motor driven flywheel which would apply torque to the structure to which it was mounted. The motor control system was to be implemented using a microprocessor based controller. The purpose of the torque applied by this system was to dampen oscillations of the structure to which it was mounted. Before the work was terminated due to the unavailability of equipment, a system was developed and partially tested which would provide tight control of the flywheel velocity when it received a velocity command in the form of a voltage. The procedure followed in this development was to first model the motor and flywheel system on an analog computer. Prior to the time the microprocessor development system was available, an analog control loop was replaced by the microprocessor and the system was partially tested.

Mcree, G. J.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The effect of direct and reflected radiation on the temperatures of space structures

As an orbiting structure passes from the bright side to the dark side of the earth, substantial differences in surface heating may take place due to direct sunlight and albedo. Most structures are built of convex curved elements to spread out the reflected energy. A change in the shortwave absorptivity and emissivity maintains the temperature of electronic components within a narrow range. Temperature extremes may also be reduced by the use of thermal capacity of the system or by shielding the surface from direct sunlight. For an instrument deployed from a Shuttle, a temperature must be established for it in the cargo bay before deployment. The effect of obstructed views by surfaces such as the Shuttle arm complicates solar flux computations because of the object's mobility. For typical orbits, the earth's albedo and the direct long wavelength radiation may be as much as 30 percent of the direct solar flux. Irradiation due to direct and reflected solar, long wave radiation and reflected radiation from earth, and from Shuttle surfaces is largely dependent on the specular reflection from the radiators as the Shuttle rolls and its surfaces block the sun. Through a judicious choice of surface properties, thermal capacitance and orbit attitude programming, the temperature response of a system can be controlled.

Emery, A. F.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Shear deformation plate continua of large double-layered space structures

The energy equivalence to construct equivalent continua for the actual lattice structure is described. An energy equivalent continuum is defined as that which has the same amount of strain and kinetic energies stored in it as the original lattice structure when both are subjected to the same loading conditions. The equivalent continuum is characterized by its strain and kinetic energies from which the constitutive relations and the equations of motion can be derived. A simple method to model large rigid jointed lattices as continuous media with couple stresses is presented. The transition from the discrete system to the continuous medium is achieved by expanding the displacements and the rotations of the nodal points in a Taylor series about a suitable chosen origin. Basic kinematic assumptions are introduced to insure that the assumptions used in deriving the governing equations of the modeled continuum are satisfied. The number of terms retained in the Taylor series expansion will depend upon the properties to be evaluated. This implies that the kind of continuum needed to model from the discrete lattice, before the actual properties are derived was to predetermined.

Hefzy, M. S.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Swing-arm beam erector (SABER) concept for single astronaut assembly of space structure

Results are presented of tests conducted to evaluate a mobile work station/assembly fixture concept that would mechanically assist an astronaut in the on-orbit manual assembly of erectable truss-beams. The concept eliminates astronaut manual translation by use of a motorized work platform with foot restraints. The tests involved assembly of a tetrahedral truss-beam by a test subject in simulated zero gravity (neutral bouyancy in water). A three-bay truss-beam was assembled from 30 aluminum struts with quick-attachment structural joints. The results show that average on-orbit assembly rates of 2.1 struts per minute can be expected for struts of the size employed in these tests.

Watson, J. J.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Experimental Development of a Failure Detection Scheme for Large Space Structures

Large flexible spacecraft may require control systems consisting of large numbers of sensors and actuators. To assure a viable mission, the control system should tolerate failures of some of the control components. Hence, it is desirable to automate the process of failure detection, identification, and control system reconfiguration (FDI&R). Some of the opportunities to accommodate failure in the spacecraft design are reviewed. Some methods for FDI&R are presented in overview, and the method chosen for experimental testing is described. Finally, the experimental activities leading to the validation of the technique are presented.

Montgomery, R. C.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Definition of ground test for verification of large space structure control

Directions regarding the analytical models were received. A counter balance arm with weights was added at the top of the ASTROMAST to offset the arm with the gimbals. In addition to this model, three more models were requested from MSFC: structure as in the revised model with the addition of lumped masses at bays 46 and 91 of the ASTROMAST; cantilevered cruciform structure with lumped masses at bays 46 and 91, and an all up cruciform structure with lumped masses at bays 46 and 91. Figures for each model and their corresponding natural frequencies and general mode shapes associated with these frequencies are included. The drawbar in use in the cruciform models must be incorporated into the antenna and ASTROMAST models. The total tensile load carrying capability of the ASTROMAST is approximately 840 pounds.

Seltzer, S. M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

The dynamics and control of large flexible space structures, 8

A development of the in plane open loop rotational equations of motion for the proposed Spacecraft Control Laboratory Experiment (SCOLE) in orbit configuration is presented based on an Eulerian formulation. The mast is considered to be a flexible beam connected to the (rigid) shuttle and the reflector. Frequencies and mode shapes are obtained for the mast vibrational appendage modes (assumed to be decoupled) for different boundary conditions based on continuum approaches and also preliminary results are obtained using a finite element representation of the mast reflector system. The linearized rotational in plane equation is characterized by periodic coefficients and open loop system stability can be examined with an application of the Floquet theorem. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the potential instability associated with actuator time delays even for delays which represent only a small fraction of the natural period of oscillation of the modes contained in the open loop model of the system. When plant and measurement noise effects are added to the previously designed deterministic model of the hoop column system, it is seen that both the system transient and steady state performance are degraded. Mission requirements can be satisfied by appropriate assignment of cost function weighting elements and changes in the ratio of plant noise to measurement noise.

Bainum, P. M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Rationale for an experimental test for flexible space structure attitude control

The problems of large flexible spacecraft control are characterized by the infinite bandwidth of structural vibrations, which cannot be accounted for in the dynamic design model. This may lead to instability even, if ideal control hardware is assumed, which can be concluded from preceding numerical investigations. Additional performance limitations are expected to occur due to hardware constraints. A laboratory experiment is proposed to investigate the key problems in more detail. The test setup requirements being defined by the idealized control system are extremely high demanding a high speed processor and special hardware component developments. The test element is a wire suspended plate being controlled by an array processor via high performance sensors and actuators. First tests on component level indicate the feasibility of the system presently being developed.

Lange, T.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Sub-Optimal Control of Nonlinear Flexible Space Structures

A simple yet effective method is presented for the on-line vibration control of nonlinear distributed parameter systems, with constant or time-varying properties, responding to a wide class of dynamic environments. The control procedure uses pulse generators located at selected positions throughout a given system. The degree of system oscillation near each controller determines the controller's activation time and pulse amplitude. The direct method of Liapunov is used to establish that the response of the controlled nonlinear system is Lagrange stable. Analytical and experimental studies of a wing-like plate demonstrate the feasibility, reliability, and robustness of the proposed vibration-suppression method.

Dehghanyar, T. J.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Frequency Domain Control Design of Large Space Structures: A Practical Approach

Requirements indicate the need for much larger, more accurate, and in some cases, very dynamic satellites. Large control system bandwidths are needed to meet accuracy and response requirements while maintaining tight control over appendage oscillations. Studies in recent years have shown that linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) controllers can achieve the desired performance if the system is linearized and if the system model is accurate. Results of an LQG controller applied to a single axis satellite with large solar arrays, are given. A reduced order model (ROM) comprises rigid body motion with dominant structural modes. Optimal control and estimation gains are calculated based on an extremely conservative 0.0005 critical damping ratio. In order to examine stability characteristics, single-input single-output (SISO) frequency response concepts are generalized to develop a method of displaying open loop frequency response of multi-input multi-output (MIMO) control system.

Harding, R.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Wideband Disturbance Accomodation in Precision Flexible Space Structures

Numerous spacecraft missions currently being formulated exhibit several basic and sharply conflicting features: selected components (e.g., an optical train) of inherently flexible structures are to maintain precision pointing performance in a wideband disturbance environment. Within the overall process of synthesizing an active controller to deal with this difficult problem, the aspects of reduced-order modelling and of actuator and sensor selection are crucial to the successful implementation of any controller feedback strategy. The principal focus in this paper is on the influence of actuator and sensor selection upon the effectiveness of a specified controller strategy for wideband disturbance accommodation. A genetic optical support structure is used for a number of design examples. Active transducer selections are made systematically based upon their direct contributuion to optical pointing error. Controller designs incorporating the various transducer selections exhibit stability in the presence of unmodeled modes over a frequency range substantially beyond the bandwidth of the disturbance.

Hegg, D. R.↗