"Golden Bell Cover", "Little Door God", "Wisdom Brain", "Show Your Hand" in the core cabin

Source: Xinhua Net

Lanzhou, 30 Apr (Xinhua) -- On 29 April, the space station Tianhe core module was successfully launched. The active potential control subsystem, door rapid leak detector, robotic arm operation table and other products developed by the 510 Institute of the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group Co., Ltd. will play an important role in the core cabin of Tianhe.

——The astronaut's "golden bell cover": the active potential control subsystem

According to the R&D personnel of the 510 Institute, China's space station uses a high-voltage battery array, and its main structure will produce a maximum voltage of about 100 volts in the ionospheric plasma environment. If left unchecked, astronauts' out-of-the-cabin activities are like working on "high-voltage wires", which is very dangerous. The active potential control subsystem can control the structural potential of the space station within a safe voltage range to ensure the safety of astronauts when they leave the capsule.

Sun Yingping, senior engineer of the 510 Load Center, introduced that the system integrates new technologies such as space potential measurement, potential control, and on-orbit diagnosis, involving multiple disciplines. The researchers broke through the hollow cathode extremely large electron beam emission, potential probe extension rod structure optimization and insulation isolation, real-time diagnosis of faults, tiny gas flow control technology, invented a satellite structure potential active control system that integrates measurement and control, which can control the structural potential of the space station at minus 37 volts, and the performance indicators are better than the minus 40 volts of the International Space Station, which is equivalent to putting on the "golden bell cover" for astronauts, which can ensure the safe and stable operation of China's space station orbit.

——The "small door god" of the space station: the door rapid leak detector

During the service period of the space station, the Tianhe core module must dock with the Qantian capsule, the dream space capsule, multiple manned spacecraft and cargo spacecraft, and the astronauts need to open and close the hatch when they are in orbit to exit the capsule and penetrate the cabin. Astronauts must survive in the cabin, and the gas that maintains their normal life cannot leak. Whether the hatch is well sealed is crucial to ensuring the safety of astronauts, so it is necessary to accurately and quickly detect the sealing of the hatch.

According to the R&D personnel of the 510 Institute, after the hatch is closed, the door rapid leak detector innovatively uses the unique structure of the hatch, using the small space formed between the two sealing rings on the door body and the door frame, by filling the small space with a certain amount of detection gas, monitoring its pressure change, so as to judge the sealing of the hatch. The leak detector can control the gas pressure acquisition accuracy to more than ten Pa, ensuring the accuracy of the rapid leak detection results. In the event of a leak, the door quick leak detector will immediately issue an alarm indication.

In the space station, the door rapid leak detector is like a "small door god" attached to the space station door, providing astronauts with information on the sealing status of the door and ensuring the safety of the astronauts' working and living environment.

——The "smart brain" of the space robotic arm system: the robotic arm operator station

The space robotic arm is an intelligent robotic arm for the construction, operation and maintenance of the space station in China, a powerful assistant for astronauts, and an important symbol of China's space station reaching the international advanced level. In the Tianhe core cabin, whether it is operated autonomously, on orbit or on the ground to carry out remote operation control, it is inseparable from the manipulator operating platform developed by the 510.

Ma Dongtao, a researcher at the Mechanical and Electrical Division of the 510 Institute, introduced that the robotic arm operation platform is the management center of the space station's mechanical arm, which manages the mechanical arm at one end, and connects the astronauts with the ground measurement and control center, which is the distribution center for the data interaction between the space robot arm and the space station, and also the terminal for the astronauts to interact with the mechanical arm. Based on the research and development of the domestic computing platform, the manipulator operation platform has achieved a breakthrough in the key technologies with strict real-time requirements such as closed-loop control of parallel mechanism and space vector control under the condition of limited computing resources, and the overall indicators have reached the international advanced level.

Zhang Biao, deputy director of the 510 Institute, introduced that in terms of space station tasks, the total number of high-performance and customized products undertaken by 510 reached more than 680 sets, of which 94 sets of products "escorted" the Core Cabin of Tianhe.