Development of an Active Composite with Embedded Piezoelectric Sensors and Actuators for Structure Actuation and Control

This paper illustrates the results produced by an industrial-academic team that developed the concept of active composite with embedded piezoelectric and optical sensors/actuators for space structures. An innovative demonstrator has been designed, developed and built under an ESA-ESTEC contract. Its requirements are derived from a trade-off analysis and study of the state of the art for smart materials technology using piezoelectric materials and optical fibre Bragg gratings sensors. The driving application is a embedded active damping system to reduce jitter on an Earth observation satellite due to equipments such as cryo-coolers or reaction\momentum wheels. Compatibility of piezo devices, optical fibers and carbon fiber composite have been investigated to obtain reliable production of aerospace standard composite parts with embedded actuators\sensors. Finite element modeling was performed using tools developed by university, suitable for industrial utilization and design optimization. A breadboard has been manufactured to validate the integration technique and ground test the dynamic sensing, actuation and active damping capabilities when complex shapes are constructed. The use of passive, EM immune, Bragg grating optical sensors enables also quasi-static and high strain range sensing. Experimental campaign results are shown in the paper highlighting sensing, actuation and damping capabilities, comparing them to standard measurement systems.