Development of High Performance Tank Systems for Large Satellite Platforms
- Paper number
IAC-07-C2.1.04
- Author
Dr. Michael Spiegel, MT Aerospace AG, Germany
- Coauthor
Mr. Marc Giegerich, MT Aerospace AG, Germany
- Coauthor
Mr. Dieter Roos, MT Aerospace AG, Germany
- Coauthor
Mr. Thomas Schermann, MT Aerospace AG, Germany
- Year
2007
- Abstract
The growing needs of satellite service providers in Europe require the development of a new high performance platform for communication satellites. High performance means, to provide a system of maximum load capacity at minimum structural mass. It is obvious that the tank systems play a key role in terms of mass efficiency. The most promising design of such efficient tank systems is based on carbon overwrapped pressure vessels (COPV), which have been successfully developed and qualified at MT Aerospace through various R&D, national and company sponsored programs. The leak tightness and the compatibility with the propellant fluids is provided by the thin-walled liner, whereas the strength and stiffness of the system are provided by the carbon overwrap, which can easily be manipulated at interfaces to adjacent structures such as skirts or propellant ports. For the manufacturing of the thin-walled liner (< 1 mm) MT Aerospace has acquired extensive experience in the spinforming technology. The large required volume of the currently developed tanks (2000 dm³) and the limited space envelope leads to a Cassini shaped design, which leads to challenging dynamic analyses of the equatorial mounted system. The delivery of the propellant fluids to the engines under all orbital conditions is guaranteed by a propellant management device (PMD) together with vanes to “collect” the fluid under low gravity conditions. With the here developed design a mass reduction of approximately 30% compared to the conventional all-metal design can be realized.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-07-C2.1.04.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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