MAGNETIC BEARINGS APPLICATIONS TO ROTATING MACHINERY FOR SPACE POWER GENERATION

MAGNETIC BEARINGS REPRESENT A PROMISING APPROACH TO CONTROLLING THE LARGE ANGULAR MOMENTUMS AND IMBALANCES ASSOCIATED WITH SPACE BASED POWER GENERATING MACHINERY. WITHOUT THIS CONTROL, THESE LARGE ANGULARMOMENTUMS AND IMBALANCES WOULD LEAD TO UNACCEPTABLE TORSIONAL AND TRANSLATIONAL INTERACTIONS WITH THE SPACECRAFT. ROTATING MACHINE SYSTEMS INCLUDING TURBINES, GENERATORS, FLYWHEELS, AND THEIR CONTROLS ARE THE PREFERRED CANDIDATE FOR MANY STRATEGIC DEFENSE POWER GENERATION APPLICATIONS. THESE SYSTEMS WILL HAVE ANGULAR MOMENTUMS MANY ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE LARGER THAN THOSE OF PRIOR SPACE SYSTEMS. CURRENT STATE OF THE ART IN THE KEY COMPONENT TECHNOLOGY AREAS SUCH ASFLYWHEELS, GENERATORS, AND TURBINES ARE BEING REVIEWED. SEVERAL REPRESENTATIVE "STRAWMAN" APPROACHES ARE BEING SELECTED FOR DETAILED EVALUATION. BASELINE MAGNETIC SUSPENSION APPROACHES ARE BEING DEVELOPED FOR THESE CONFIGURATIONS TOGETHER WITH CONTROL SYSTEM CONCEPTS THAT WILL AUTONOMOUSLY MANAGE THE ANGULAR MOMENTUM OF THE FLYWHEEL AND ATTENUATE VIBRATION INPUTS TO THE SPACECRACT. THE RESEARCH, IF SUCCESSFUL, WILL ALLOW THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF MAGNETICBEARING TECHNOLOGY (HIGH EFFICIENCY, REDUCED VIBRATION, AND EXTREMELY LONG LIFE) TO BE REALIZED FOR SPACECRAFT APPLICATIONS.