Coupled Dynamic Modeling and Analysis of the Single Gimbal Control Moment Gyroscope Driven by Ultrasonic Motor

A control moment gyroscope (CMG) is a key actuator for spacecraft’s attitude and stability control. But there exist micro-vibrations from high-speed flywheel, which will affect the performance of the spacecraft greatly. Due to the unbalanced mass and the supporting structure, the high-speed rotating flywheel could generate disturbance torque, which will be passed to the gimbal to deteriorate the gimbal servo system. At the same time, the rotation of the gimbal will increase the disturbance torque for gyroscopic effect. According $\cdot $ to the bearing theory, the stiffness of the bearing is affected by the load that applied on it, which results the influence on the flywheel vibration and the generated disturbance torque. This means that there is a coupling effect in the CMG. In this article, we focused on this coupling relationship between the flywheel vibration and the gimbal rotation in a single gimbal control moment gyroscope (SGCMG) system. Firstly, a vibration model of the flywheel with variable stiffness supporting is established. And the rotation model of the gimbal is also developed. The flywheel model and the gimbal model are coupled with each other through the variable stiffness supporting and gyroscope effect. Based on the numerical simulations the interactions among the bearing stiffness, the flywheel vibration and the gimbal rotation are analyzed. Finally, experiments are carried out on the prototype. The experimental results have verified the theoretical analysis and the simulations, and which would support the design of high-performance control system.