Experimental research on microvibrations of magnetically suspended momentum wheel

Microvibrations produced by high speed momentum wheels can highly degrade the performance of precision instruments in satellites. To suppress such microvibrations, one of the promising methods is to utilize the magnetically suspended momentum wheel (MSMW) due to the convenient and effective control strategy. However, little research is dedicated to the microvibrations caused by MSMW. This paper focuses on the experimental testing and analysis for the microvibrations of a MSMW. The experimental results show that there are significant synchronous harmonic due to the rotor mass imbalance, and the super-harmonics caused by senor runout. Moreover, the significant dynamical amplification can be observed when the super harmonics intersect with the structural modes. These experimental results are important and valuable for not only the further active vibration suppression but also the newly designed types of MSMW.