JP2694660B2 - Space environment utilization device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a space environment utilization device used in an experiment using a microgravity environment such as outer space.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, the acceleration insulation and fixing method of the experimental equipment of the experiment using the microgravity environment is (Adv.Astronaut Sci, VOL61,
(1986), PP119-128, the experimental device is fixed with bolts at launch and during recovery, and when performing an experiment in a microgravity environment, the experimental device is replaced with another device by a magnetic actuator. It is held in non-contact with and prevents the entry of disturbance acceleration.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

The above-mentioned conventional technology has a problem that it is necessary to fix the microgravity-using device at the time of launch and recovery with bolts, which requires human operation, and cannot cope with unmanned spacecraft such as free flyers. .

Further, this device controls the magnetic actuator to prevent the entry of the disturbance acceleration into the device for utilizing microgravity, but there is a problem that the vibration is not completely insulated due to the magnetic reaction force.

Further, although this device is a space device that needs to be lightweight, it has a problem when the weight is as heavy as 40 kg and a problem that it requires a large amount of electric power in a space where energy sources are scarce.

The present invention aims at unmanning the fixing-release during launch and recovery of the microgravity environment utilization device, and improving the insulation of the disturbance acceleration under the microgravity environment. Furthermore, they are lightweight and consume less power. It is intended to be done on a device.

[Means for solving the problem]

The purpose of the above is to enclose a gas between the microgravity environment utilization device and the microgravity environment utilization device storage rack, and arrange a membrane structure whose pressure is variable so as to surround the microgravity environment utilization device. When the spacecraft is to be launched or recovered, it is necessary to fix the microgravity environment utilization device with the pressure adjustment device and the control device for the pressure adjustment device. The rigidity is increased, the vertical / horizontal directions of the microgravity environment utilization device, the rotational movement, etc. are constrained, and the device is fixed,
In addition, if it is necessary to prevent the disturbance acceleration from being applied to the outside or to transmit the disturbance acceleration to the outside, such as when performing experiments or material manufacturing in a microgravity environment, lower the pressure of the membrane structure and It is achieved by lowering the rigidity of the device, suspending the microgravity environment utilizing device so that it does not come into contact with other devices, and insulating the turbulent acceleration.

[Action]

By adjusting the pressure in the membrane structure, the microgravity utilizing device can be fixed, so that the operation and the device can be simplified, and the work can be unmanned and the device can be made lightweight. In addition, by suspending the device in a microgravity environment and holding it in a non-contact state with other devices, it is possible to prevent the disturbance acceleration from propagating to the device.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Various space environment utilization devices are stored in a rack like 1.
It is installed and used in space environment utilization facilities such as Space Shuttle and Free Liar. One of them, the microgravity environment utilization apparatus 2, is filled with gas of 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, and the pressure of the filled gas is variable, and is housed in the rack through a membrane structure. There is. As the material of the membrane structure, a composite material membrane structure represented by a Kevlar fiber reinforced plastic composite membrane, a membrane structure made of a polymer material, or the like can be used. The film structures 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d are in contact with or fixed to the rack walls 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, and receive a reaction force from the rack walls.

As an example, the pressure adjustment of the enclosed gas of the membrane structure is performed by the valve a,
b (5,6), pipe line 7, enclosed gas pressure adjusting device in membrane structure consisting of gas tank 8 in which gas to be enclosed in the membrane structure, gravity detector 12 for detecting gravity level, inside membrane structure This is performed by the pressure control device 10 which sends a signal to the enclosed gas pressure adjusting device in accordance with the measuring system such as the pressure detecting sensor 9 and its signal and a command from the ground to adjust the pressure in the membrane structure.

The concept of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 3, and 4. A schematic representation of FIG. 1 is shown in FIGS.
FIG. 4 and FIG.

FIG. 2 shows a case where a large external force is applied at the time of launch, recovery, etc., and the microgravity environment utilization apparatus 2 needs to be protected. In this case, the pressure of the enclosed gas of the membrane structures 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d arranged so as to surround the microgravity environment utilization device 2 is increased, the rigidity of the membrane structure is increased, and the microgravity environment utilization device 2 Constrain horizontal and vertical movements and rotational movements. As a result, the microgravity environment utilization device 2
Is fixed to the rack walls 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d to prevent the destruction of the microgravity environment utilization device 2 when a large external force is applied at the time of launch, recovery, etc. Fig. 3,
FIG. 4 shows the operation under a microgravity environment. In the microgravity environment, the microgravity environment utilization device 2 is operated,
When conducting an experiment or material production, as shown in FIG.
Membrane structure 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d surrounding the microgravity environment utilization device 2
The pressure of the enclosed gas is reduced, the rigidity of the membrane structures 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d is reduced, and the disturbance acceleration is transmitted to the microgravity environment utilization device 2 from the outside, or the disturbance acceleration is transmitted to the outside. .

In FIG. 4, the pressure in the membrane structures 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d is lowered, and the microgravity environment utilization apparatus 2 is floated in a non-contact manner with other equipment
A method of obtaining a good microgravity environment by setting the contact force applied to the microgravity environment utilization apparatus 2 to 0 and performing complete insulation of the disturbance acceleration will be described.

An example of the pressure adjusting mechanism having a membrane structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5.

As described above, the pressure adjustment of the membrane structure 3 includes the valves a and b of 5,6, the pipe line 7, the enclosed gas tank 8, the pressure sensor 9 for measuring the pressure in the membrane structure, the pressure control device 10, and the signal line 11. And so on. In this device, depending on the situation, when it is desired to change the internal pressure of the membrane structure 3, a signal is generated from the pressure control device 10 to open and close the valves a, b (5, 6) to change the membrane structure. Adjust pressure in 3.

To increase the pressure in the membrane structure, close valve 5 of
The valve b of 6 is opened to guide the high pressure gas in the gas tank 8 into the membrane structure 3 to increase its internal pressure.

When lowering the pressure in the membrane structure, close valve b of 6,
By opening the valve a of No. 5 and releasing it in vacuum,
The internal pressure of the membrane structure 3 can be lowered.

A pressure control method using the pressure control device 10 for controlling the pressure adjustment shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. From the gravity detection device 12, the acceleration sensor 13, the pressure sensor 14, from the information and the elapsed time from the launch,
As an example, the gravity level of the space environment utilization facility is judged to be about 10 ^-3 g or less, and when it is judged that a microgravity environment experiment is possible, and the experiment is started by a command 15 from the ground or spacecraft. In such a case, the pressure control device 10 outputs a signal for lowering the pressure in the membrane structure 3 to the pressure adjusting device. When a large external force is applied to the microgravity utilizing device 2, the pressure control device 10 causes the pressure adjusting device to apply the membrane structure 3 to the microstructure.
It outputs a signal to increase the internal pressure. When it is known that a large external force will be applied in advance, such as when collecting the microgravity environment utilization device 2 on the ground or when changing the orbit of a space environment utilization facility, launch a signal from the ground or spacecraft. The pressure control device 10
As a result, a signal for increasing the pressure in the membrane structure 3 is output to the pressure adjusting device. In addition, the pressure control is performed by monitoring the pressure inside the membrane structure with a pressure detection device inside the membrane structure such as a pressure sensor attached to the membrane structure 3.

Using Fig. 7 and Fig. 8, under microgravity environment,
A mechanism for preventing destruction of the microgravity environment utilization apparatus 2 and a control method thereof when the microgravity environment utilization apparatus is suspended and an unexpectedly large external force is applied to the space environment utilization facility during the experiment will be described. In addition to the above-mentioned device, this device measures the displacement between the microgravity environment utilization device 2 and the rack wall 4, the displacement gauge 17, the acceleration sensor 18 which measures the acceleration applied to the microgravity environment utilization device 2, the acceleration applied to the rack. It has an acceleration sensor 19 for measuring. Based on the information obtained from these sensors, the rack 4 and the microgravity environment utilization device 2
If it is determined that the microgravity environment utilization device 2 collides with the rack wall 4 due to the positional relationship and the relative acceleration, the pressure control device outputs a signal for increasing the pressure in the membrane structure, Promptly protect and fix the gravity environment utilization device.

An example in which the present invention is applied to an electromagnetic valve will be described with reference to FIGS. 9, 10, and 11.

A case 25 is fixed to the device mounting surface 20. Inside the case 25 is the electromagnetic valve 21 that is the source of the disturbance acceleration.
Are surrounded by the membrane structure so that they can be vertically positioned by the membrane structures a and b (22, 23) and can be laterally positioned by the membrane structure c (24). ing. As described above, when it is necessary to fix the electromagnetic valve 21, the film structure a, b,
The pressure of c (22, 23, 24) is increased to restrain the movement of the electromagnetic valve 21.

When it is necessary to prevent propagation to the disturbance acceleration generated by the electromagnetic valve 21 as in the microgravity environment experiment,
The internal pressure of the membrane structure a, b, c (22, 23, 24) is lowered and the electromagnetic valve is operated in a floating state to insulate disturbance acceleration.

In this application example, the jar rose 27 is used to insulate the disturbance acceleration transmitted through the pipe line 26. The method for controlling the pressure of the membrane structure is based on the above-mentioned method.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, by changing the internal pressure of the variable internal pressure membrane structure, it is possible to easily create a completely different condition from fixing the microgravity environment utilization device and insulating the turbulent acceleration in which the device is suspended. In addition, it is possible to insulate the turbulent acceleration with a lightweight device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a space environment utilization device of the present invention,
2, 3 and 4 are conceptual diagrams of the operation of the present invention, FIG. 5 is an operational conceptual diagram of an apparatus for adjusting the internal pressure of the membrane structure, and FIG. 6 is a system diagram of pressure control of the internal pressure of the membrane structure. 7 and 8 are conceptual diagrams of the operation of the emergency protection mechanism of the microgravity environment experimental device, and FIGS. 9, 10 and 11 are examples in which the present invention is applied to an electromagnetic valve, respectively. FIG. 10 is a lateral sectional view taken along the line AA ′ of FIG. 10, FIG. 10 is a longitudinal sectional view, and FIG. 11 is a side view showing a part of the section. 1 ... Rack, 2 ... Micro environment utilization device, 3a, b, c, d ......
Membrane structure, 4a, b, c, d ... Rack wall, 5, 6 ... Valve, 7 ...
… Pipeline, 8 …… Tank, 9 …… Pressure sensor, 10 …… Pressure control device, 11 …… Signal line, 12 …… Gravity detection device, 13 ……
Accelerometer, 14 ... Pressure gauge, 15 ... Pressure adjustment command, 16
...... Pressure adjusting device, 17 …… Displacement meter, 18,19 …… Acceleration sensor, 20 …… Device mounting surface, 21 …… Electromagnetic valve, 22,2
3,24 …… Membrane structure, 25 …… Case, 26 …… Pipeline, 27 …… Jabara.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A space environment utilization apparatus equipped with a microgravity environment utilization apparatus provided in a storage rack, wherein the space environment utilization apparatus is provided between a rigid surface of the storage rack and the microgravity environment utilization apparatus. A membrane structure that can be enclosed, and a pressure regulator that adjusts the gas pressure in the membrane structure by supplying gas into the membrane structure or discharging gas in the membrane structure to the outside.
A gravity detection device that detects the gravity of the environment in which the space environment utilization device body is placed, and a signal from the gravity detection device is taken in, and when the space environment utilization device body is placed under a microgravity environment, The microgravity environment utilization apparatus outputs a signal for lowering the gas pressure in the membrane structure to the pressure regulator so that the microgravity environment utilization apparatus is held in a floating state or a state close to a floating state in the storage rack. When the main body is placed below the environment other than the microgravity environment, a signal for increasing the gas pressure in the membrane structure is applied to the pressure regulator so that the microgravity environment utilization apparatus is constrained in the storage rack. A space environment utilization device, characterized in that it is provided with a pressure control device for outputting to.