Design and Analysis of a Rectangular PCB Printed Magnetorquer for Nanosatellites

CubeSats have become increasingly important in the last two decades and are playing a very important role in the space industry, especially with Earth-oriented nanosatellites. Earth-oriented nanosatellites require more precise attitude control when there is a requirement for good pointing accuracy. In such missions, passive control systems are not suitable due to their low accuracy, hence, active control systems are used. Different types of actuators are available, but magnetic actuators are best suited for low-Earth orbit (LEO) nanosatellites. When current moves through the wire, a magnetic field is generated which is used to generate torque. The torque generated makes it possible to control the attitude of the satellite in the desired direction. The best option for nanosatellites is to use the printed or embedded magnetorquers due to its scalable, reconfigurable, and modular approach. Printing the magnetorquer into the internal layers of the printed circuit board (PCB) reduce the harness complexities and space constraints effectively. The optimized design of the printed magnetorquer is selected by analyzing various parameters, such as turn width, distance between two turns, applied voltage, external dimensions, and internal dimensions. The design also takes into consideration other parameters, such as generated torque, torque-to-power ratio, magnetic field to current ratio, consumed power, rotation time, and thermal analysis, by changing the optimizing variables and taking into account the most important key design drivers. The design selection and results of the analysis concerning the selection of optimized parameters are presented.