Suppression of high-frequency disturbance to satellite by Vernier-gimballing magnetically suspended flywheel

Abstract

The high-frequency disturbance acting on a satellite decreases the satellite’s stability and pointing precision. The common flywheel is generally used to suppress it, but the number of the required flywheels is usually five or more and that will make the satellite overweight. The magnetically suspended flywheel (MSFW) with Vernier-gimballing capability (Vernier-gimballing MSFW) is proposed in this paper to suppress the high-frequency disturbance. In addition, a comparative simulation research has been done for a satellite controlled by Vernier-gimballing MSFW or reaction FW. It is worth noting that the Vernier-gimbaling MSFW can not only make the actual angle of the satellite track its reference angle better, but also make the accumulative errors of outer and inner virtual gimbal angle be very small, then the satellite’s stability and pointing precision will be improved accordingly. The Vernier-gimballing MSFW is verified to be able to suppress the high-frequency disturbance effectively when their frequencies are within the frequency bandwidth of MSFW.