CMGユニットを用いたロープ型宇宙エレベーター実験用クライマーの昇降安定化制御

Abstract

By using a tether (cable) to link the ground station and the space station at 36,000[km] altitude, a space elevator is envisioned where transportation is achieved by a climber that ascends and descends the tether. In anticipation of industrial applicability near the ground, a climber for a rope-type tether (rope-type climber) was developed in this study. Compared with a climber for a belt-type tether, the rope-type climber has a small contact area between the tether and the roller, leading to problems with slippage and roller deterioration. Accordingly, here the contact area between the rope and roller was increased by using four drive wheels, and synchronized velocity control was accomplished with two drive motors for two drive wheels. Also the rope-type climber has more difficulty maintaining its orientation and is easily rotated around the tether by wind and other factors, so a control moment gyro (CMG) unit was developed that can be applied to the climber. An optimal servo system using a disturbance observer was applied to a rope-type climber with the developed CMG unit to achieve lift stabilization control. Then the effectiveness of the developed system was verified in lift experiments at the 25[m] outdoor test site of Kanagawa University and in a 1.2[km] lift experiment at the Space Elevator Challenge.