Authors

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Tabriz, Iran

Abstract

During launching and deploying to orbit, satellites experience vibration loads from launch vehicle especially in longitudinal direction. Even though the aim of the adapter between satellite and launcher is to isolate the satellite from the launcher's dynamic loads, however, still enough harsh vibration loads that can affect the operation of satellite's delicate systems transmit to the structure of the satellite. Therefore, there is need to isolate the delicate systems from vibrations of the satellite's structure. In this paper, the performance of a new material namely Silicone Gel in isolating delicate equipments (such as electronic board and its components) of satellite from longitudinal vibrations is investigated using finite element method. The results of modeling of an isolator containing Silicone Gel are verified by the available experimental results from the literature. Besides having frequency dependent behavior and dissipation characteristic, Silicone Gel shows hyper-elastic behavior that these characteristic are considered in modeling and analysis. Also an electronic board that overlays on Silicon Gel type mounts is modeled and the amount of transmitted vibration to lead wire of a resistor on it is investigated. The obtained results show that the Silicone Gel has good performance in isolating of delicate equipments of satellite from incoming longitudinal vibrations. 

Keywords

  1. Bicos, A. S. and Johnson, D., “Need for and Benefits of Launch Vibration Isolation,” SPIE Proceedings, 1997, pp.14-19.
  2. Johnson, C.D. and Wilke, P.S, “Protecting Satellites from the Dynamics of the Launch Environment,” AIAA Space Conference, Long Beach, California, 2003.
  3. Timmins, A.R. and Heuser, R.E., A Study of First – Day Space Malfunctions, NASA Technical Note, D-6474,1971.
  4. Johnson, C.D., Wilke, P.S., Grosserode, P. and Sciulli, D., “Whole-Spacecraft Vibration Isolation for Broadband Attenuation,” IEEE Aerospace ConferenceProceedings, 2000.
  5. Liu, F., Fang, B.and Huang, W.H., “Vibration Control of Flexible Satellites Using a New Isolator,” Systems and Control in Aeronautics and Astronautics (ISSCAA) 3rd International Symposium, IEEE, 2010, 593-597.
  6. Yamada,A. and Kakubari,T., “The Characteristics and Application of Silicone Gel, the Fundamental Study Based on the Experiment,” Transactions ofthe Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, C,53, No.496, 1987, pp. 2425-2430.
  7. Shimizu N. and Yamazaki, H., “Development of vibration Insulator using a New Material Silicone Gel,” Transactions of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers. C, 59, No. 568, 1993, pp. 3717-3724.
  8. Yoshihiro,, Futoshi, W., Kiyoshi, S. and Shimizu, N., “Steady-State Response of Silicone BETA Gel and a Mass System,” Dynamics & Design Conference, 2000.
  9. Zhang, W. and Nobuyuki, S., “Finite Element Formulation for the Viscoelastic Body Modeled by Fractional Constitutive Law,” Acta MechanicaSinica, 17, No. 4, 2001, pp. 354-365.
  10. Orbital Sciences Corporation, Taurus II User’s Guide, Release 1.2, December 2009.
  11. Available, [On line]: http://www.vibrationmounts. com
  12. Dave, S. Steinberg, Vibration Analysis for Electronic Equipment, Wiley- Interscience Publication, New York,
  13. Tang, W., Ren, J. and Xu, L., “Study on Vibration Analysis for Printed Circuit Board of an Electronic Apparatus,” Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation, 2007.
  14. Mooney, M., “A Theory of Large Elastic Deformation,” Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 11, No. 9, 1940, pp. 582-592