AN OPTICAL FIBER GUIDANCE PAYOUT TENSION AND TORQUE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM EMPLOYING MAGNETIC BEARINGS

EXISTING OPTICAL FIBER GUIDANCE PAYOUT TENSION AND TORQUE MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS (TTMS) HAVE INADEQUATE PERFORMANCE. VIBRATIONS LIMIT SYSTEMS USING AIR BEARINGS AND CALIBRATED LOAD CELLS TO SAMPLING RATES ONTHE ORDER OF TEN HERTZ. MOUNTING THE PAYOUT BOBBIN ON AN INSTRUMENTED BEAM ACHIEVES ACCEPTABLE SAMPLING RATES, BUT . THERMAL CHARACTERISTICS, ELASTIC COUPLING, AND DIFFICULTY IN ADAPTING TO A ROTATING BOBBIN LIMITED PERFORMANCE. SATCON TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION PROPOSES TO DEVELOP THE NEXT GENERATION TEST BED FOR OPTICAL FIBER GUIDANCE PAYOUT CHARACTERIZATION. A MAGNETIC BEARING TTMS WILL OVERCOME LIMITATIONS OF PREVIOUS APPROACHES. THE MAGNETIC BEARINGS WILL USE SERVOCONTROLLED MAGNETIC FIELDS TO PROVIDE CONTACT-FREE SUPPORT, AVOIDVIBRATIONAL AND ELASTIC EFFECTS, AND IMPROVE MEASUREMENT ACCURACY. THE SYSTEM WILL EMPLOY A SIX DEGREE-OF-FREEDOM MAGNETIC ACTUATOR, PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED BY SATCON, INTEGRATED WITH COMMERCIAL POSITION SENSORS, SWITCHING POWER AMPLIFIERS, AND A STATEOF-THE-ART DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSOR TO PROVIDE BOBBIN FORCE AND MOMENT DATA AT FREQUENCIES SUFFICIENTLY HIGH THAT SEVERAL DATA POINTS CAN BE OBTAINED AS EACH TURN IS PULLED FROM THE PAYOUT BOBBIN. SATCON HAS PROVEN TRACK RECORDIN APPLYING MAGNETIC BEARING SYSTEM AND FORCEREBALANCE TECHNOLOGY. SCIENTISTS FROM OPTELECOM, INC. WILL AUGMENT SATCON-S EXPERTISE BY CONSULTING ON OPTICAL FIBER PAYOUT SYSTEMS.