IPC분류정보
국가/구분 |
United States(US) Patent
등록
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국제특허분류(IPC7판) |
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출원번호 |
US-0641020
(1996-04-25)
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발명자
/ 주소 |
- Goodzeit Neil Evan
- Throckmorton Arthur Jon
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출원인 / 주소 |
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대리인 / 주소 |
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인용정보 |
피인용 횟수 :
8 인용 특허 :
3 |
초록
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A spacecraft (10) has an attitude sensor (20) mounted on its body (12). The sensor must be maintained near a temperature setpoint. Each sensor (20) produces its own temperature-indicative signal. Each attitude sensor is coupled to a thermally conductive instrument platform (18). A standoff (21) supp
A spacecraft (10) has an attitude sensor (20) mounted on its body (12). The sensor must be maintained near a temperature setpoint. Each sensor (20) produces its own temperature-indicative signal. Each attitude sensor is coupled to a thermally conductive instrument platform (18). A standoff (21) supports the platform (18) away from a baseplate (16) and the spacecraft body (12). The standoff (21) includes a thermally conductive portion (22) adjacent the platform (18), and a nonconductive portion (24) remote from the platform. An electric heater (26) is connected to the thermally conductive portion (22) of the standoff (21). A temperature sensor (28) thermally coupled to the platform (18) generates platform temperature signals. A filter (212) high-pass filters either the platform temperature signals or the attitude sensor temperature signals, to form filtered signals. A combining circuit (218) combines the filtered signals with the other temperature signals, to make composite temperature signals. A difference arrangement (224) coupled to the setpoint source (226) and to the combining circuit (218) generates error signals by subtracting composite temperature signals from setpoint signals. A PI processor (232) generates heater drive signals by summing proportional and integral signals. A driver (232) drives the heater (26) in response to the heater drive signals. When plural attitude sensors are mounted on the platform, the attitude sensor temperatures are averaged before further processing. The filter (212) may have a cutoff frequency which is the reciprocal of the thermal delay between the heater (26) and the attitude sensors (20), and may have a low-pass noise characteristic.
대표청구항
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[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A spacecraft including a body, said spacecraft comprising:a thermally conductive instrument platform;an attitude sensor element, mechanically mounted on, and thermally coupled to, said instrument platform, said attitude sensor element generating attitude sensor temperatur
[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A spacecraft including a body, said spacecraft comprising:a thermally conductive instrument platform;an attitude sensor element, mechanically mounted on, and thermally coupled to, said instrument platform, said attitude sensor element generating attitude sensor temperature signals which include information about the temperature of said attitude sensor element, said attitude sensor element being sensitive to its temperature, and being specified for operation near a temperature setpoint;a thermally conductive baseplate mounted on and thermally coupled to said spacecraft body;a standoff for mechanically mounting said instrument platform to said baseplate, said standoff including a thermally conductive portion adjacent to and in thermal contact with said instrument platform, and a thermally nonconductive portion mounted between said thermally conductive portion of said standoff and said baseplate, for reducing the flow of thermal energy between said instrument platform and said baseplate;electrically controllable heating means thermally coupled to said thermally conductive portion of said standoff, for supplying thermal energy to said thermally conductive portion of said standoff, for preferentially coupling said thermal energy to said instrument platform rather than to said baseplate, whereby application of thermal energy to said instrument platform generates stresses in the interface between said temperature sensing element and said instrument platform which tends to degrade the accuracy of said attitude sensing instrument;a temperature sensing element thermally coupled to said instrument platform, for producing an instrument panel temperature signal;filtering means coupled to at least one of (a) said attitude sensor element and (b) said temperature sensing element, for receiving therefrom at least one of (a) said attitude sensor temperature signals, and (b) said instrument platform temperature signals, for relatively decreasing the lower-frequency content of one of said attitude sensor temperature signals and said instrument platform temperature signals relative to the higher-frequency content of said one of said attitude sensor temperature signals and said instrument platform temperature signals, to thereby produce high-pass temperature signals derived from one of (a) said attitude sensor temperature signals and (b) said instrument platform temperature signals;summing means coupled at least to said filtering means for receiving said high-pass temperature signals derived from one of (a) said attitude sensor temperature signals and (b) said instrument platform temperature signal therefrom, and also coupled to receive said other one of (a) said attitude sensor temperature signals, and (b) said instrument platform temperature signals, for combining said high-pass temperature signals with said other one of (a) said attitude sensor temperature signals, and (b) said instrument platform temperature signals, for thereby generating a processed temperature-representative signal;a source of setpoint signals representing the temperature of said setpoint;difference means coupled to said source of setpoint signals and to said summing means, for subtracting said processed temperature-representative signals from said setpoint signals, for thereby generating error signals;proportional-integral processing means coupled to said difference means, for generating proportional signals which are proportional to said error signals, for generating integral signals proportional to a time integral of said error signals, and for summing together said proportional and integral signals, for thereby producing heater drive representative signals; anddrive means coupled to said processing means and to said electrically controllable heating means, for applying electrical energy to said heating means in response to said heater drive representative signals, whereby a closed thermal control loop is defined which tends to maintain the long-term temperature of one of said attitude sensing element and said instrument platform constant, and to minimize the temperature difference between said instrument platform and said attitude sensor element, thereby reducing stresses at said interface and reducing attitude errors attributable thereto.
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