Integrated power and single axis attitude control system with two flywheels

The existing research of the integrated power and attitude control system (IPACS) in satellites mainly focuses on the IPACS concept, which aims at solving the coupled problem between the attitude control and power tracking. In the IPACS, the configuration design of IPACS is usually not considered, and the coupled problem between two flywheels during the attitude control and energy storage has not been resolved. In this paper, an integrated power and single axis attitude control system using two counter rotating magnetically suspended flywheels mounted to an air table is designed. The control method of power and attitude control using flywheel is investigated and the coupling problem between energy storage and attitude control is resolved. A computer simulation of an integrated power and single axis attitude control system with two flywheels is performed, which consists of two counter rotating magnetically suspended flywheels mounted to an air rotary table. Both DC bus and a single axis attitude are the regulation goals. An attitude & DC bus coordinator is put forward to separate DC bus regulation and attitude control problems. The simulation results of DC bus regulation and attitude control are presented respectively with a DC bus regulator and a simple PD attitude controller. The simulation results demonstrate that it is possible to integrate power and attitude control simultaneously for satellite using flywheels. The proposed research provides theory basis for design of the IPACS.