CubeSail: A low cost CubeSat based solar sail demonstration mission

CubeSail is a nano-solar sail mission based on the 3U CubeSat standard, which is currently being designed and built at the Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey. CubeSail will have a total mass of around 3 kg and will deploy a 5 × 5 m sail in low Earth orbit. The primary aim of the mission is to demonstrate the concept of solar sailing and end-of-life de-orbiting using the sail membrane as a drag-sail. The spacecraft will have a compact 3-axis stabilised attitude control system, which uses three magnetic torquers aligned with the spacecraft principle axis as well as a novel two-dimensional translation stage separating the spacecraft bus from the sail. CubeSail’s deployment mechanism consists of four novel booms and four-quadrant sail membranes. The proposed booms are made from tape-spring blades and will deploy the sail membrane from a 2U CubeSat standard structure. This paper presents a systems level overview of the CubeSat mission, focusing on the mission orbit and de-orbiting, in addition to the deployment, attitude control and the satellite bus.     

微型扑翼飞行器升力特性研究

为了对微型扑翼飞行器升力机理进行探索性研究,本文利用西北工业大学微型飞行器专用风洞进行了扑动翼频率、风速、迎角、扑动翼弯度对其升力特性影响的研究.并且利用示波器对扑动翼扑动相位角和产生升力大小之间的关系进行了研究.试验结果表明升力特性的研究为微型扑翼飞行器总体设计和气动布局设计提供了一定的工程指导.     

Acceleration sensors based modal identification and active vibration control of flexible smart cantilever plate

Some flexible appendages of spacecrafts, such as solar panels, are cantilever plate structures. Thus, vibration problem is unavoidable when there is slewing maneuver or external disturbance excitation. Vibration of such cantilever plate structures includes coupled bending and torsional motion. Furthermore, the low amplitude vibration near the equilibrium point is very difficult to be quickly suppressed due to nonlinear factors of the hardware in the system, which is harmful to stability and attitude control accuracy. To solve these problems, acceleration sensor-based modal identification and active vibration control methods are presented for the first two bending and the first two torsional modes vibration of the cantilever plate. Optimal placements of three acceleration sensors and PZT patches actuators are performed to decouple the bending and torsional vibration of such cantilever plate for sensing and actuating, and identifications are achieved by experiments. A nonlinear control method is presented to suppress both high and low amplitude vibrations of flexible smart cantilever plate significantly. Experimental comparison researches are conducted by using acceleration proportional feedback and the presented nonlinear control algorithms. The experimental results demonstrate that the presented acceleration sensor-based methods can suppress the vibration of cantilever plate effectively.     

一种新型微型杆式超声电机及其驱动原理

提出了一种新型微型杆式超声电机,并对该杆式电机的驱动机理进行了仿真。该电机采用两段金属柱体压紧5片压电陶瓷片作为定子。该定子结构和压电陶瓷片的布局方式可以提高其机电转换效率。为尽量减小定、转子之间的径向滑移以提高摩擦传动效率,电机采用了柔性转子,对原理样机及其微型驱动器进行了性能实验。电机的外径为9mm,长度为15mm,重3.2g。当电机工作在杆式定子的一阶弯曲频率(72kHz)附近时,电机实测最大转速为520r/min,最大输出力矩为4.5mN·m。实验结果表明,该电机具有良好的稳定性,利用频率自动跟踪技术对电机转速进行闭环控制,可以将其转速波动稳定在3%之内。     

微等离子体转化二氧化碳发射光谱诊断

火星大气层的主要成分为二氧化碳,如果能够利用低温等离子体方法高效分解二氧化碳,使其转化为氧气和一氧化碳加以利用,可以大幅降低航天员生命保障相关载荷长途运输的成本,进一步提高生命保障能力.低温等离子体放电过程中会产生大量活性组分,可以在数百度温度下实现二氧化碳的高效解离,是具有很大潜力的二氧化碳解离与转化方式.设计了一种...     

电磁流体动力驱动流体搅拌混合器特性研究

对小型电磁流体动力搅拌混合器的特性进行了理论分析和实验研究.该小型电磁动力混合器由聚碳酸脂和黄铜采用常规机械加工方法加工而成.研究采用的流体为氯化钠水溶液.为了观察流体的搅拌混合运动,在流体中加入微量微细玻璃珠作为示踪粒子.采用显微观测及图像采集技术记录流体的搅拌混合过程,用数字图像处理技术对流体速度场进行分析.建立了搅拌混合器的理论模型,并对其动力特性进行了数值分析,理论结果与实验结果相吻合.该小型电磁动力混合器已应用于微管道流动的混合控制并可应用于其它微流体控制系统中.     

用于微型涡轮机的节流孔式静压气浮轴承实验

对用于厘米级微型涡轮发动机的径向静压气浮轴承展开了实验研究,分析了长径比、节流孔径、气膜间隙及供气压力等对承载力、刚度和耗气量的影响.提出了这些设计参数的优选方法,并结合直径11 cm的某微型喷气发动机,给出了与之匹配的径向静压气浮轴承设计方案:工作面直径15 mm、长度17.5 mm、节流孔径0.35 mm、气膜间隙25μm.此方案在供气绝对压力2.5 kPa时,双轴承支撑能力为13.72 N,耗气量小于1.0 g/s,有效地满足了微型涡轮发动机要求.      

基于微型铣床的非硅材料中间尺度微细切削加工技术研究

在综合考虑各项因素的基础上,研制了一台能够满足三维形貌加工要求的微型铣床,并进行了平面、微槽、微型齿轮、半凹球以及四面体微透镜阵列等各种典型微小特征的铣削工艺试验,体现了该铣床的加工精度和加工能力,证实了微型铣床加工技术的可行性。     

谐振式微机械惯性传感器

对几种典型的谐振式加速度微传感器和微陀螺的结构、工作原理等方面进行了概述，分析了各自的应用特点。从中反映出谐振式微惯性传感器具有优良的特性，必有广阔的应用和发展前景。     

Static strength analysis of dragonfly inspired wings for biomimetic micro aerial vehicles

This article examines the suitability of fabricating artificial, dragonfly-like, wing frames from materials that are commonly used in unmanned aircraft(balsa wood, black graphite carbon fiber and red prepreg fiberglass). Wing frames made with Type 321 stainless steel are also examined for comparison. The purpose of these wings is for future use in biomimetic micro aerial vehicles(BMAV). BMAV are a new class of unmanned micro-sized aerial vehicles that mimic flying biological organisms(like flying insects). Insects, such as dragonflies, possess corrugated and complex vein structures that are difficult to mimic. Simplified dragonfly-like wing frames were fabricated from these materials and then a nano-composite film was adhered to them, which mimics the membrane of an actual dragonfly. Finite element analysis simulations were also performed and compared to experimental results. The results showed good agreement(less than 10% difference for all cases).Analysis of these results shows that stainless steel is a poor choice for this wing configuration, primarily because of the aggressive oxidation observed. Steel, as well as balsa wood, also lacks flexibility. In comparison, black graphite carbon fiber and red prepreg fiberglass offer some structural advantages, making them more suitable for consideration in future BMAV applications.