Tunable mass damper for use with a reaction wheel assembly
AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorsZach Rogers, Ryan Goold, Mario Gonzalez
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A tunable mass damper (TMD) is provided that can be coupled to a rotating inertia apparatus such as a reaction wheel assembly (RWA). The TMD includes a housing that contains a flexure, a mass, and damping fluid within the housing. The housing is coupled to the flexure, and the flexure is coupled to the mass. The mass is free to sway in the damping fluid. The damping fluid envelops the mass and provides damping between the mass and the housing. At least one of the mass, flexure and the damping fluid can be adjusted to tune the TMD to produce a resonance at or near a mode that is to be mitigated by the TMD such that it operates at a desired or optimal operating frequency.
Claims19
A method for tuning a tunable mass damper (TMD) that is physically coupled to a reaction wheel assembly (RWA) in a stationary position, the method comprising:
- providing a TMD comprising a housing, that contains damping fluid, a flexure and a mass, wherein the flexure imparts a stiffness of the TMD and is coupled to the housing, wherein the mass is coupled to the flexure and disposed within the housing, wherein the damping fluid provides damping between flat surfaces of the mass and the housing;
- and
- adjusting at least one of the mass, the flexure and viscosity of the damping fluid to tune the TMD.
An assembly, comprising:
- a reaction wheel assembly (RWA) comprising a rotor and a plurality of bearings that allow the rotor to rotate;
- and
- a tunable mass damper (TMD), physically coupled to the RWA in a stationary position, and being designed to reduce one or more of force and torque communicated to the bearings.
A tunable mass damper (TMD) comprising:
- a housing;
- and
- a mass that is disposed within the housing, wherein the housing contains damping fluid that provides damping between the mass and the housing;
- and
- a flexure, disposed within and coupled to the housing, wherein the flexure imparts a stiffness of the tunable TMD, wherein the mass is coupled to the flexure, and wherein at least one of the mass, the damping fluid and the flexure is adjustable to tune the tunable TMD.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.