Cedrat Technologies, innovation in mechatronics

New space giant constellations based on Free-Space Optical Communication (FSO) are a new challenge from many perspectives. Considering the mandatory cost efficiency, with repeatability of performances, and reliability with no defect at customer integration, requires an upheaval in space production and acceptance test methods, when the quantities are beyond several thousands of units. Starting from the former PYSCHE PAM30 flight project heritage for Deep Space Optical Communication (DSOC), CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES (CTEC) presents the new design and test results of the P-FSM150S Fast Steering Mirror (FSM) Engineering Models, developed under ARTES project TELCO-B for future FSO constellations.

The current trend in the market to solve long boring bar related chatter problems are passive dampers integrated in the boring bar, which has derived in patents and commercial products; This solution, however, is not feasible in very slender bars or trepanning operations, due to small space available in the tool. Active damping has been tested and indus-trialised in different applications, including machine tool structures, but never in internal turning tools. The application of active damping on boring bars has been proposed in several researches...

Free-Space Optics and Deep Space Optical Communication request new compact low-power high-stroke high-bandwidth Fast Steering Mirrors. To address this need, CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES has developed a Magnetically-actuated Fast Steering Mirror called M-FSM, taking heritage of its MICA™ technology. This mechanism offers Rx Ry strokes larger than +/-2° with a 250Hz bandwidth when tilting a 10mm-diameter mirror. Closed loop control is achieved using integrated eddy current sensors. Requested power is reduced leading to low heating and allowing high duty cycle. Vibration tests allow to define first limits and conditions for the M-FSM to bear external vibrations.

Synchrotrons need robust products. That’s why the association of piezo actuator technology and CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES (CTEC) know-how has been successful for synchrotron mechanisms projects. The technological brick is the “Amplified Piezo Actuator” (APA®) tested and widely used in space applications, it is often implemented in CTEC piezo mechanisms and provides a high level of robustness. Modifying the layout and the number of APA® allows several needs to be addressed within beamlines. Three applications developed in collaboration with the EMBL, PAL and SOLEIL will be presented in this paper. The first application consists of cutting a beam with a piezo shutter. The maximum beam diameter is 3 mm. The second mechanism allows the energy of a beam to be modified by using a series of piezo actuated filters. And the last mechanism aims at modifying the beam section shape with an active piezo micro-slits mechanism.

Future matrix sensors will acquire an area on ground and are then susceptible to image shift due to satellite movement during acquisition. Design, Build and Test a breadboard mechanism that could shift telescope line of sight and freeze observed area during image acquisition.

Multi degree of freedom (dof) mechanisms are widely required into micro or macro manipulation fields as well as in optronics functions. Commonly available mechanisms may be divided into two main categories. The first is industrial robots (serial or parallel). These offer large range of motion, in rotation and translation. Their resolution is usually limited in the sub-millimeter range. The second category achieves very high resolution motion (sub-nanometer) but is limited to a few decades of microns. A way to combine both long stroke and resolution is to use piezo motors into multi dof mechanisms. The aim of this paper is to present a combination of both advantages into a low volume tripod actuator. The Tripod Actuator by Cedrat Technologies (TrAC) is a 3 dof mechanism offering +/-35° rotation around X and Y axis and a 10mm Z translation stroke into a low volume of Ø50x50mm.

In the frame of the Meteosat Third Generation project (MTG), the future European Operational Geostationary Meteorological Satellites system, Cedrat Technologies has developed a dedicated actuator for the Scan Assembly mechanism (SCA) made by SENER. Such motors are needed to actuate the SCA on the north/south (N/S) and east/west (E/W) axes. The requirement of precise pointing of the SCA induces very specific characteristics for the motorisation. The motor needed characteristics are: to be free from any cogging, high constant motor [N.m/√W] to have a constant torque over full stroke range, to have a very low hysteresis and to have redundant coils. To meet these stringent requirements, the choice was made to develop a specific Rotating Voice Coil Motor.