Thermal Distortion Measurements of a Dual Gridded Antenna Reflector with Laser Radar System Integrated to a Thermal Vacuum Test Facility
Abstract
A dual gridded reflector for Ku-Band applications (KuDGR) with two actually gridded shells made of single and individually shaped CFRP-rods (single carbon fibre reinforced plastic) has been developed by HPS. Due to the fact that these shells are made of CFRP-rods conventional methods for coordinate and thermal-distortion (TD) measuring could not be used. Therefore, the Laser Radar system (LR) was identified as best suitable measurement method for this application.The LR was chosen during the KaDGR study performed by HPS due to its capability to measure points contactless without targets and with high precision and a great number of measurement points in a short time. Furthermore, due to the gridded structure measurement systems using interferometric patterns (ESPI, Shearography) or structured light projection could not be applied.The performance of the Laser Radar system was tested during preliminary measurements on the KuDGR bread- board model. For the first environmental tests on the engineering model, the test methods at IABG were specifically adapted and qualified in order to verify that the Laser Radar system can handle the constrains set by a thermal-vacuum (TV) test facility. During the verification test run the objectives were to verify the compatibility of the LR with the positioning with respect to the chamber, the visibility, the test facilities viewport and setup inside the chamber as well as the achievable measurement accuracy. The general compatibility could be shown and optimisations regarding test setup and better accuracy were identified. Since the active surfaces of the reflector contains a multitude of single rods all with different shapes and lengths the vibration influences of the individual facility systems onto the reflector were investigated.The LR system is widely used in industrial applications but references regarding measuring thermo-elastic distortions in a TV test facility using this method are still rare. IABG has developed and qualified a specific procedure to implement this technology to its test facility such that it may be used for future similar test requirements, too. Finally, the paper will show plans for the TD/TV test on the KuDGR reflector using the Laser Radar system.
- Publication:
-
13th European Conference on Spacecraft Structures, Materials & Environmental Testing
- Pub Date:
- June 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014ESASP.727E.173H