SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNETIC BEARINGS FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE MOMENTUM-EXCHANGE EFFECTOR

PRECISION POINTING OF LARGE PAYLOADS REQUIRES TORQUES AND ANGULAR MOMENTUM STORAGE CAPACITIES THAT ARE LARGE IN COMPARISON TO THE CAPABILITIES OF AVAILABLE HARDWARE. IN ADDITION, THE POINTING ACTUATOR MUST HAVE EXTREMELY LOW TORQUE JITTER. HIGH TORQUE AND LOW NOISE COMBINE TO PRODUCE AN EXTREMELY DIFFICULT DESIGN CONSTRAINT FOR MECHANICAL BEARINGS SINCE ROLLING ELEMENTS TRANSMIT VIBRATIONS DIRECTLY TO THE SUPPORTING STRUCTION. THE USE OF MAGNETIC BEARINGS INANGULAR MOMENTUM EXCHANGE EFFECTORS HAS THE PRIMARY ADVANTAGE THAT PHYSICAL CONTACT BETWEEN THE ROTOR AND STATOR IS ELIMINATED. FOR CONVENTIONAL MAGNETIC BEARINGS, HIGH TORQUES MAY REQUIRE THAT THE MAGNETIC STRUCTURE BE EXCESSIVELY MASSIVE. AN ALTERNATIVE DESIGN EMPLOYS A SUPERCONDUCTING COIL AND ELIMINATES ALL CONVENTIONAL MAGNETIC STRUCTURES. THE BASELINE APPROACH IS TO REPLACE THE PERMANENT MAGNET AND MAGNETIC STRUCTURE OF A CONVENTIONAL MAGNETIC BEARING WITH THE SUPERCONDUCTING COIL. IN THE SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNETIC BEARING, A SINGLE COIL REPLACES TWO PERMANENT MAGNET STRUCTURES IN ORDER TO PRODUCE AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT, LIGHT-WEIGHT DESIGN. A DESIGN DEFINITION AND DETAILED ANALYSIS OF A SUPERCONDUCTING BEARING SYSTEM IS BEING DEVELOPED. FROM THESE RESULTSA LABORATORY PROTOTYPE COULD BE CONSTRUCTED AND TESTED IN A LATER PHASE.