WEAPON SYSTEM 107A-1. MARK 3 ADVANCED RE-ENTRY VEHICLE PROGRAM. INERTIA WHEEL CONTROL.
Abstract
An investigation was conducted to determine the feasibility of designing liquid flywheel attitude-control systems. The flywheel as constructed was composed of the following: a tube formed into a ring, an electromagnetic pump, and a liquid metal serving as the armature conductor and flywheel. A permanent magnet was positioned to develop a constant flux field across the tube containing the liquid metal. Current flowing in phase quadrature with the magnetic field through the liquid metal created a force on the liquid and caused it to flow around the tube. This action generated the momentum required to rotate the space vehicle. One of the major problems of this fluid flywheel concept was the feasibility of designing a lightweight liquid-metal pump with the pumping capacity required for the attitude control system. Two approaches were followed simultaneously under this subtask: (a) Design, construction, and test of pumps and liquid flywheel systems. (b) Digital computer study of the parameters affecting liquid flywheel designs and operation, based on overall system weights of various designs. Theoretical investigations also were made of the power supply characteristics and requirements for such a device. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 15, 1961
- Accession Number
- AD0600683
Entities
People
- C. D. Hawn
Organizations
- General Electric