NASA LogoNTRSNTRS - NASA Technical Reports ServerSearchmore_vertCollectionsAboutNewsHelpLogin Back to ResultsActive Vibration Reduction of the Advanced Stirling ConvertorStirling Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) are being developed as an option to provide power on future space science missions where robotic spacecraft will orbit, flyby, land or rove. A Stirling Radioisotope Generator (SRG) could offer space missions a more efficient power system that uses one fourth of the nuclear fuel and decreases the thermal footprint compared to the current state of the art. The Stirling Cycle Technology Development (SCTD) Project is funded by the RPS Program to developing Stirling-based subsystems, including convertors and controller maturation efforts that have resulted in high fidelity hardware like the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG), Advanced Stirling Convertor (ASC), and ASC Controller Unit (ACU). The SCTD Project also performs research to develop less mature technologies with a wide variety of objectives, including increasing temperature capability to enable new environments, improving system reliability or fault tolerance, reducing mass or size, and developing advanced concepts that are mission enabling. Active vibration reduction systems (AVRS), or "balancers", have historically been developed and characterized to provide fault tolerance for generator designs that incorporate dual-opposed Stirling convertors or enable single convertor, or small RPS, missions. Balancers reduce the dynamic disturbance forces created by the power piston and displacer internal moving components of a single operating convertor to meet spacecraft requirements for induced disturbance force. To improve fault tolerance for dual-opposed configurations and enable single convertor configurations, a breadboard AVRS was implemented on the Advanced Stirling Convertor (ASC). The AVRS included a linear motor, a motor mount, and a closed-loop controller able to balance out the transmitted peak dynamic disturbance using acceleration feedback. Test objectives included quantifying power and mass penalty and reduction in transmitted force over a range of ASC operating parameters and mounting conditions. All tests were performed at three different piston amplitudes, 3.0, 3.75, and 4.5 mm. Overall, the transmitted force was reduced to 2 percent of the total unbalanced force by actively balancing out only the first fundamental frequency, with balancer motor power remaining under 1 watt. The test results will be used to guide future balancer designs.Document ID20160014702Acquisition SourceGlenn Research CenterDocument TypeTechnical Memorandum (TM)AuthorsWilson, Scott D.*(NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH United States)*Metscher, Jonathan F.*(NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH United States)*Schifer, Nicholas A.*(NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH United States)*Date AcquiredDecember 19, 2016Publication DateDecember 1, 2016Subject CategoryEngineering (General)Report/Patent NumberGRC-E-DAA-TN35187E-19313AIAA Paper 2016-5015NASA/TM-2016-219416Meeting InformationMeeting: International Energy Conversion Engineering Conference (IECEC)Location: Salt Lake City, UTCountry: United StatesStart Date: July 25, 2016End Date: July 27, 2016Sponsors:American Inst. of Aeronautics and AstronauticsFunding Number(s)WBS: WBS 138494.04.18.01.01.01Distribution LimitsPublicCopyrightWork of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.KeywordsBalancerActive Vibration ReductionStirling Radioisotope PowerAvailable DownloadsNameType20160014702.pdfSTIcloud_downloadcontent_copyvisibilityRelated RecordsIDRelationTitle20170000877See AlsoActive Vibration Reduction of the Advanced Stirling Convertorvisibility_offNo Preview Available
 No Fear Act | Freedom of Information Act | Office of the Inspector General | Agency Financial ReportsNASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices | NASA Guidelines for Quality of InformationDisclaimers, Copyright, Terms of Use | Accessibility | NASA OCIO | USA.gov | NASA.govContact Us | Site MapSTI LogoNASA Official: JoAnne R. Calhoun Site Curator: STI Compliance and Distribution Services Last Modified: September 12, 2024