Control moment gyroscope
AssigneeMitsubishi Electric Corporation
InventorsMunetaka Kashiwa, Kazuhiko Fukushima
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A control moment gyroscope includes: an inner gimbal; a rotor that is held by the inner gimbal to be rotatable around a spin axis; a spin motor that is disposed on the inner gimbal, and that rotates the rotor around the spin axis; a stator that holds the inner gimbal to be rotatable around a gimbal axis that is perpendicular to the spin axis; gimbal bearings that are disposed between the inner gimbal and the stator to face each other from opposite sides of a plane that is perpendicular to the gimbal axis and that includes the spin axis, to be in contact with the plane in question, or to include the plane in question; and a torque module that is disposed on the stator, and that rotates the inner gimbal around the gimbal axis.
Claims8
A control moment gyroscope to be disposed on a spacecraft, wherein said control moment gyroscope comprises:
- an inner gimbal;
- a rotor that is held by said inner gimbal so as to be rotatable around a spin axis;
- a spin motor that is disposed on said inner gimbal, and that rotates said rotor around said spin axis;
- a stator that holds said inner gimbal so as to be rotatable around a gimbal axis that is perpendicular to said spin axis;
- gimbal bearings that are disposed between said inner gimbal and said stator so as to face each other from opposite sides of a plane that is perpendicular to said gimbal axis and that includes said spin axis, so as to be in contact with said plane, or so as to include said plane;
- and
- a torque module that is disposed on said stator, and that rotates said inner gimbal around said gimbal axis,
- wherein said rotor has a shaft extending along said spin axis, and
- wherein said gimbal bearings are disposed outside of opposite ends of said shaft of said rotor when viewed along said gimbal axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.