Today,
vacuum tests for the spheres and the micro pumps were carried out to test the
volume changing capabilities of SAM’s spheres. In the finished structure the
volume change between two neighbouring spheres will result in a shape change of
the entire structure. For today’s test two inflatable spheres were connected by
a micro pump (Bartels Mikrotechnik GmbH) and tested first at ambient pressure
and then in the vacuum chamber. It can be confirmed that the pumps worked in vacuum
conditions, but the volume change was too slow (especially by considering the
short micro gravity time of the sounding rocket experiment of roughly 140s).
Further research will be focused on increasing the flow rate or maybe changing
to more powerful pumps. Thanks to the Strathclyde students Thomas Perry and
Paul Hammond for getting the micro pumps ready for today’s test.
Self-inflating Adaptive Membrane (developed at the Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory / University of Strathclyde), a new concept of a modular deployable multi-functional structure that can adapt itself to various mission conditions.
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Wednesday 16 May 2012
SAM on BBC2 Scotland
Yesterday night, a feature on Space-based Solar Power was aired on BBC2's Newsnight Scotland. The piece also shows Strathclyde's Self-inflating Adaptive Membrane together with the cube satellites, in the vacuum chamber and the simulation. Further references are made to Strathclyde's Suaineadh experiment which was launched in March this year and had the purpose to show the feasibility of deploying a web in space by using centrifugal forces.
The article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-18080883
Newsnight Scotland on BBC Iplayer (at around 14minutes):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01hz75t/Newsnight_Scotland_15_05_2012/
The article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-18080883
Newsnight Scotland on BBC Iplayer (at around 14minutes):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01hz75t/Newsnight_Scotland_15_05_2012/
Thursday 10 May 2012
Simulations on SAM deployment progressing
For the last couple of weeks, simulations on the deployment
behaviour of the inflating spheres from the StrathSat-R REXUS cube satellites were
carried out. LS-DYNA with an academic license of the University of Strathclyde
was used for the deployment simulation. Two rows of 18 spheres were modelled
with a constrained rigid cube satellite in the centre. To simulate the
deployment from the cube, the flat spheres (two sheets of polymer joined together
around their circumference) where pressed into the cube satellite first. After
the spheres were stored, the residual air inflation deploys the entire
structure. This “chaotic” storage followed by the residual air inflation can be
seen in the attached clip. Current research is now focused on modelling
different folding pattern in LS-DYNA and starting a code to program the shape
change of the membrane.
BBC doing a piece on Space Power Satellites at Strathclyde
Today, reporters from the BBC were at the University of
Strathclyde to do a piece on Space Based Solar Power. The researchers's at Strathclyde are involved in the current NIAC (NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts) study on Space Power Satellites (SPS) called SPS-ALPHA with John C. Mankins from Artemis Innovation as a project lead. Space Based Solar Power is
the promising concept of collecting the sun’s energy in space and then
transmitting it via laser or microwaves to the ground. With this concept the
energy can be harvested more efficiently without losing too much of the sun’s
energy through the Earth’s atmosphere. These Space Power Satellites (SPS) are
huge structures with diameters in the order of hundreds of meters. Large
deployable structures become necessary to realise such an ambitious project. The
smart structure of the Self-inflating Adaptive Membrane can be used as a
reflector or concentrator to focus the Sun’s energy on the solar cells before
transmitting it via microwaves or lasers to the ground. Further applications
can be seen as all kinds of substructures for the SPS concept due to SAM’s
adaptability. The piece will be aired probably on Monday (14th of
May 2012) evening on BBC.
Micropumps are working under ambient conditions
The breadboard electronics for the micropumps (Bartels
Mikrotechnik GmbH) was build last week and a first test was carried out at
ambient conditions with water to prove the functionality of the microcontroller
and the pumps. The tests were fully successful. Currently the team is in
preparation for testing the capabilities of the pumps in vacuum conditions.
This test will be carried out next week at the physics lab here at Strathclyde.
Two of SAM’s inflatable sphere will be connected by a micropump to investigate
the volume changing capabilities which will enable SAM’s adaptability.
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