An Active Composite Reflector System for Correcting Thermal Deformations

Abstract

A meter-scale piezoelectrically active composite re ector has been developed and tested. The active re ector consists of a spherically curved, graphite face sheet, aluminum honeycomb core composite panel augmented with a network of distributed piezoelectric composite actuators. The piezoelectric actuator system may be used for controlling the structural dynamic response of the re ector, or for correcting low-order, thermally-induced quasistatic distortions of the panel. In this study, thermally-induced surface deformations of 1 to 5 microns were deliberately introduced onto the re ector, then measured using a speckle holography system. The re ector surface gure was subsequently corrected to a tolerance of 100 nm using a lattice of 90 piezoelectric composite actuators distributed across the re ector’s back face sheet. Initial experimental investigations consisted of open-loop gure control to determine in uence functions and control authority for each individuallyaddressable actuator, followed by a closed-loop gure control implementation. This paper will describe the design, construction, and testing of the active composite re ector system under thermal loads, and subsequent correction of thermal deformations via distributed piezoelectric actuation.