Design of Satellite Reaction Wheel with Flexible PCB Windings for Angular Momentum Optimization

This paper aims to design a satellite reaction wheel for high-precision attitude control. For aerospace applications, the reaction wheel should provide sufficient angular momentum under the weight limitation. To minimize the motor weight, a high-speed permanent magnet (PM) motor using flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) windings is proposed. Although FPCB reduces the stator weight, insufficient armature flux is the primary concern. To improve the torque density, the Halbach magnet rotor is used to concentrate the flux linkage for better torque production. Different from other Halbach motors with dual magnet rotors, a motor with one iron rotor and another Halbach magnet rotor is developed. Comparing to dual magnet rotors, the torque ripple caused by the interaction between two magnet rotors can be eliminated. Besides, the iron loss is decreased by replacing the stator iron core with synchronous rotor core. The finite element analysis (FEA) is used to design the reaction wheel geometry. A reaction wheel prototype is fabricated for experimental validation.