Adaptive Vibration Isolation of a Spacecraft Control Moment Gyro Employing a Variable Fluid Damper

Aiming at improving the vibration isolation performance of traditional three-parameter dampers, a new variable fluid damper with several frequency selective valves (FSVs) and a slotted spring and its five-parameter mechanical model have been proposed, a product prototype has been designed. Dynamic modelling of a vibration isolation system using the variable fluid damper for a spacecraft Control Moment Gyro (CMG) has been established, followed simulation results show that the fluid damper has achieved high damping in the low-frequency range and low damping in the high-frequency range, with self-adaptive external characteristics. As a result, the proposed damper has achieved adaptive vibration isolation performance both on the low-frequency impact energy absorption and mid-to-high frequency micro-vibration suppression, so it significantly outperforms the existing three-parameter dampers. The proposed mechanical model and the designed product prototype of the variable fluid damper, as well as the design theory and simulation results established, have laid the foundation for the next steps of prototype development and experimentation, and for the development of high-performance vibration isolators for spacecraft.