Suppression of solar array vibration by torque compensation using a magnetorheological actuator: A hardware-in-the-loop test study

Sun-tracking-induced vibrations of a large flexible solar array are characterized by a wide frequency range and persistent disruptions, making them an important challenge for a high-precision spacecraft. This paper describes a hardware-in-the-loop test for a novel vibration suppression method that employs magnetorheological torque compensation. To provide the compensating torque, a test bench is built using a magnetorheological actuator (MRA). A comprehensive model is employed to quantitatively analyze suppressions in terms of solar array driving, solar array motion, and spacecraft disturbance. For comparison, the test is run in both open-loop and closed-loop modes. The results demonstrate that with closed-loop control, the maximum fluctuation of driving torque decreases by 50.90%. The sun tracking achieves a more stable speed. Moreover, disturbances produced by the vibration of the solar array are decreased by 59.84%. These findings suggest that using torque compensation with an MRA can successfully reduce the sun-tracking-induced vibration of a large flexible solar array while minimizing the impact on the spacecraft platform.