Parametric Study on the Magnetic Properties of the Electropermanent Magnetorquer

Abstract

This paper discusses the feasibility of a novel magnetorquer by illustrating its magnetic performance and comparing it with conventional magnetorquers. Unlike the traditional magnetorquers used in space, we adopted the electropermanent magnet as a source to generate torque. We focused on the fact that an electropermanent magnet doesn’t consume any continuous electric power supply to hold its magnetic property once it is magnetized. From this point of view, it is worthwhile to investigate further the characteristics of the electropermanent magnet and aim to replace the electromagnets in the magnetorquer. Furthermore, based on the current findings, we presume that this new type of magnetorquer has relatively low energy consumption while performing attitude control maneuvers, especially for detumbling and stabilizing a satellite. To proceed with the application, we developed a preliminary experimental setup and have identified some of the properties of the electropermanent magnet. We have discovered that it can switch on and off and alter the magnetic dipole moment, including its direction. Thus, in other words, we can say that it is programmable. At this stage, this property seems to be related to two aspects, the number of electric current pulses and the supply voltage driven to the winding wire, which is closely associated with the external magnetic field. These two parameters are correlated to each other, and both affect the magnetic strength and the transient profile in a different manner. Therefore, in this presentation, we aim to show the latest progress of our experiment regarding the characterization of the electropermanent magnet.