Technical Papers and Presentations

The use of a reaction sphere as an actuator used by satellite Attitude Control System was proposed over twenty years ago. In principle this concept assumes the use of a single reaction sphere which can be accelerated in any direction instead of a set of reaction wheels. The solution discussed in this work has been proposed and patented by CSEM company. Contrary to conventional ball bearing momentum exchange devices, in this solution the rotor levitates magnetically which results in absence of friction and increase of performance. The proposed solution of actuator is based on an 8-pole permanent magnet rotor and 20-pole stator with coils. The goal of the simulation discussed in the paper was to find the rotor design which minimize the distortion of the magnetic flux density with respect to the desired fundamental harmonic.