87 Development of a Family of Resettable Hold -Down and Release Actuators Based  on SMA Technology and Qualification of Different Application Systems  

Marcelo Collado(1), Cayetano Rivera(1), Javier Inés(1), José M. San Juan(2), Charlie Yeates(3), Michael  Anderson(3), Francisco Javier Rivas(4), Mónica Iriarte(5), Jens Steppan(6), Calem Whiting(7) and   Karine Murray(7) 

Abstract  

The present work summarizes the development of a complete family of resettable Hold Down and Release  Actuator s (HDRA), ca lled REACT, based on Shape Memory Alloys (SMA), from its conception to its  qualification as component and subsequent  integrat ion in several final users’ systems. The paper details  different topics involved in this development, including technological devel opment s, design conceptions of  the actuators, their unit qualification and their integration and qualification in different subsystems.  

Introduction  

The work presented in this paper was performed in the frame of an European project were a consortium of  seven partners collaborated in the development of a family of HDRAs for general use. The partnership  covered the definition of requirements for a variety of  typical  applications used  by system integrators , the  development and assessment of the required technologies, such as SMAs and the tribology of release  mechanisms , the development up to qualification of the actuator and the qualification of several systems  integrating the new device. The resulting REACT actuators have several advantages with respect to  existing alternatives:   • Easily resettable by manual operation through the separation plane without disassembly  from the  system, enabling the test of the final units before flight. An important reduction in Assembly Integration  and Test (AIT) costs at the system level is enabled bre eliminating disassembly and refurbishment  operations.   • Low-shock compared to other technologies.   • Non- explosive devices, therefore they do not require special safety and security measurements  during installation and handling.   • Wide range of operating temperatures. Two different temperature options  are offered to customers:  standard temperature and ex tended temperature.  

Development of REACT family  

The new design started from Arquimea’s experience with  the design of a previous HDRA, which was   completely redesigned to overcome the limitations found in the first version and optimize the final  performanc as detailed in [1]. Three different models were  developed: 5kN, 15kN and 35kN, in two different  variants: standard operation temperature ( -90ºC to +65ºC), based on NiTi , and extended temperature   (-90ºC to +120ºC), motorized by SMARQ®, which was evaluate d in previous ESA activities [2].  

(1) Arquimea Ingeniería, Leganés, Spain; mcollado@arquimea.com   (2) University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Leioa, Spain   (3) ESTL | ESR Technology Ltd, , Warrington, United Kingdom   (4) Airbus Defence and Space, Madrid, Spain   (5) AVS - Added Value Solutions, Elgoibar,  Spain   (6) SpaceTech GmbH, Immenstaad, Germany   (7) Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, Guildford, United Kingdom 

Proceedings of the 45th Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium, NASA Johnson Space Center, 2020