Features of digital control of flywheel engine, JSC Corporation VNIIEM for high-dynamic spacecraft

The development of radiation-resistant microcontroller technology opened new possibilities for controlling the flywheel engine and, consequently, the whole spacecraft. The lack of import-independent flywheel engine having the advanced capabilities as compared with domestic and foreign analogs made it necessary to develop a new generation of flywheel engines with digital micro controller-based control at JSC Corporation VNIIEM. Such a flywheel engine is being developed as a fast-acting actuator of the orientation and stabilization system of a high-dynamic spacecraft (the maximum control moment of the new flywheel engine is 1 Nm). Such features of creating digital microcontroller-based control of a new flywheel engine as organizing the flywheel engine rotor rate feedback, consideration of the basic control modes of the flywheel engine and options for reaching the required rotor rate of the flywheel engine, as well as self-diagnostics not only controlling but automatically updating the diagnosed parameters of the flywheel engine are given in this article.