The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.

Susan D Hendrie

George A Oberbeck

David B Eisenhaure

Tim E Bliamptis

James R Downer

An energy storage attitude control and reference system for a craft including at least two flywheels with their angular momenta balanced to produce zero net angular momentum and at least two motor/generator units each including one of the flywheels in its rotor structure. The system further includes one pair of bearings for supporting each of the flywheels, means for measuring the position of each flywheel relative to its bearings, means for resolving current to and from said motor/generator units, means for applying torques to each flywheel through its respective bearings for controlling attitude of the craft about two mutually perpendicular axes, and means for exerting torques to each flywheel through its respective motor/generator to provide attitude control of the craft about a third axis perpendicular to the first two and for controlling the energy storage level of the flywheels.

Energy storage attitude control and reference system

A magnetic suspension system including a first control coil for establishing circumferential current flow, and second and third control coils for establishing axial current flow. A support member of magnetic material has a gap for receiving the coils and there is a magnet for producing a magnetic field in the support member through the gap in the coils for generating Lorentz forces to support the coils in the axial and two mutually perpendicular radial directions.

Magnetic suspension system

A self-regulating energy storage system including: an a.c. motor/generator including a rotor; a flywheel attached to the motor/generator; a device for monitoring the position of the motor/generator rotor; an element for resolving current to and from the motor/generator; a pulse width modulated bidirectional inverter interconnecting the motor/generator with a power supply bus to be regulated; a summing circuit for determining differences between a reference voltage and the voltage in the power supply bus to be regulated; and a pulse width modulation switch control responsive to the comparator circuit, to the device for monitoring, and to the element for resolving, for actuating the inverter to increase pulse width as a function of increase in the difference between the reference voltage and the voltage on the bus, and to increase current to the motor/generator in the motor direction when the bus voltage exceeds the reference voltage and to increase current from the motor/generator in the generator direction when the reference voltage exceeds the bus voltage.

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Milan, Italy

Susan D Hendrie