Download Test bench for actuators

WOW T ECHNOLOGY
 Automatisation & Robotique
 Prototypes & Production
engineering your ideas
 Test & Mesure
Test bench for actuators
This project is part of a
European Space Agency
program, intended to
develop a spacecraft able
to return autonomously
from low orbit. This one is
known as IXV for Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, and should be
launched into a suborbital
trajectory by Vega, the
latest European launcher.
The supply of the flaps
control actuators of this
small shuttle was
entrusted to the SABCA,
thanks to the excellent
Test bench for actuators
reputation that this Belgian
company has acquired in
this area. The test bench
movements of the flaps (extensions and
for actuators ordered to WOW Techretractions of actuators). The optimal solunology was designed to test perfortion was to join a crank representing a flap
mances of these highly critical devices
to an electrical SEW servo-motor.
for atmospheric re-entry flight control.
 Aerospace constraints
The test bench is used to reproduce
mechanical and thermal stress the
actuators will face. Our engineers
have faced several challenges in the
design of this equipment, which we
detail below.
The most important of them concerns
torque regulation (in the order of 2500
Nm) for the loading of actuators. The
torque must be as constant as possible, taking into account an important
hysteresis occurring during alternate
Actuator and its lever
www.wowtechnology.com
1
WOW T ECHNOLOGY
 Automatisation & Robotique
 Prototypes & Production
engineering your ideas
 Test & Mesure
Another challenge was to maintain a
constant torque during the test of the
actuator bandwidth that results in a very
quick change of the applied stress. The
servo-motor being not dynamic enough for
this kind of tests, it can be disconnected
and replaced by a spring box which provides a more appropriate response.
Actuators are subjected to temperatures of
up to 115 °C, due to the heating of the IXV
by air friction during the re-entry. These
thermal stresses are applied to the actuators using a climatic enclosure, so that the
response to mechanical stress is measured
in the most exact environmental conditions.
In addition, WOW designers demonstrated
inventiveness to provide SABCA with the
adjustment opportunities of some geometrical parameters.
 Results acquisition
torque regulation of the test bench), a force
sensor to measure the axial stress, and a
linear displacement sensor. The raw data
obtained are then recovered by SABCA for
analysis and control via a connection on the
electrical cabinet.
 Solutions transferable to all industrial
fields
This project demonstrates how the field of
tailor-made equipment designed by WOW
Technology is huge. Our know-how is in fact
beyond automation of production steps and
integration of robots, for which we are usually known, as attested by our numerous
achievements of test and measurement
equipments, both in applications for R & D
(as it was the case for SABCA), and for the
quality control (sampling or in line).
You will find some other examples by visiting the Test and Measurement section on
our website.
Several sensors are integrated into the test
bench: a torque sensor (the data collected
by this one was also necessary to the
Copyright ESA/J.Huart
IXV during atmospheric re-entry
www.wowtechnology.com
2