Design and Research of Active Gravity Unloading Device for Large Aperture Optical Mirror

The large aperture optical mirror for space is processed and tested in the gravity environment on the ground. After entering space, gravity disappears due to the change of environment, and the mirror surface that has met the engineering requirements on the ground will change, seriously affecting the imaging quality. In order to eliminate the influence of gravity and to ensure the consistency of space and ground, gravity unloading must be performed. In order to meet the requirements of processing and testing for the large aperture space mirror in the state of vertical optical axis, a universal gravity unloading device was proposed. It was an active support and used air cylinders to provide accurate unloading force. First, the design flow of gravity unloading was introduced;then the detailed design of the mechanical structure and control system was given;then the performance parameters of the two types of cylinders were tested and compared, including the force-pressure relationship curve and the force-position relationship curve;finally, the experimental verification of the gravity unloading device was carried out;for a mirror with an aperture of ?2100 mm, the gravity unloading device was designed and a vertical detection optical path was built. The test results showed that by using this gravity unloading device, the actual processing surface accuracy of the mirror was better than 1/50λ-RMS, which met the application requirement of the optical system. Thus, it can be seen that using this gravity unloading device can effectively unload the gravity of the mirror and realize the accurate processing and measurement of the mirror surface. .

Modeling, measurement and simulation of the disturbance torque generated via solar array drive assembly

The disturbance torque generated via solar array drive assembly(SADA) can significantly degrade the key performance of satellite.The discussed SADA is composed of a two-phase hybrid stepping motor and a set of two-stage straight gear reducer. Firstly, the vibration equation of the two-phase hybrid stepping motor is established via simplifying and linearizing the electromagnetic torque.Secondly, based on the vibration equation established, the disturbance torque model of SADA is created via force analysis and force system simplification. Thirdly, for precisely ground measuring the disturbance torque aroused by SADA, a measurement system,including a strain micro-vibrations measurement platform(SMMP) and a set of gravity unloading device(GUD), is designed.Fourthly, the proposed disturbance torque model is validated by measuring and simulating the disturbance torque produced via SADA driving rigid load through GUD. The results indicate that, the proposed disturbance torque model holds the ability to describe the disturbance torque caused by SADA with high precision. Finally, the disturbance torque emitted by SADA driving a flexible load, designed to simulate solar array, is modeled and simulated via using fixed-interface mode synthesis method(FIMSM). All the conclusions drawn from this article do have a meaningful help for studying the disturbance torque produced by SADA driving solar array on orbit.