Cedrat Technologies, innovation in mechatronics

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.

Air Liquide advanced Technologies in collaboration with Cedrat Technologies and SMAC has performed a study of a compact vibration control platform for mechanical cryocoolers. This solution has been proposed as an alternative approach to cryocooler integration with respect to suspended systems that must be mechanically locked during the launch phase. This system allows significant reduction of the platform’s physical size and mass.

As future astronomic missions will require more and more stringent resolution requirements, the high demand for an environment clean of vibrations and disturbance appears. This also leads to the need for high precision steering devices for fine pointing of sensitive optics with the highest possible accuracy. Several methods exist to reduce vibration levels: the first consists in isolating the sensitive system from the perturbation and the second in damping the structure vibration modes. Therefore, two Stewart platforms have been designed, manufactured and tested. The first is a soft hexapod that provides 6 degree-of-freedom (DOF) active isolation and the second is a stiff hexapod that provides active damping to whatever flexible payload attached/mounted to it. In addition, both hexapods have steering capabilities.

This paper reviews some concepts used for active vibration control and vibration isolation. It is divided into two parts. Part 1 reviews some control strategies based on collocated control systems, which offer promising results for space and civil engineering applications. Part 2 (starting at section 4) is focused on automobile applications.