Evaluation and test of different gear concepts for Ka-band Antenna Pointing Mechanisms

摘要

The goal of this work was to (1) evaluate different gear concept for spaceflight application with minimum backlash, (2) design a test setup to test the most promising concepts, and (3) conduct preliminary validation tests. The evaluation focused on the primary possibilities to influence the behavior of gear performance: variation of material and variation of geometry. The synthetic materials PEEK and Vespel were evaluated with respect to vacuum compatibility, wear and strength. Both materials performed promising for space application. To investigate the influence of gear geometry, a profile shift of the gears and a reduction of the tooth height were analyzed and tested.