Parametric Optimization and Analysis of Power Efficient Magnetorquer Rod Actuator for Nanosatellite

CubeSats are popular nowadays due to their small size as well as low launch and development costs. Also, they are getting popular as an Earth observation satellite. The Earth observational satellites require a good pointing mechanism to point toward the target. Due to the requirement of an accurate pointing mechanism, a precise attitude control is required. Passive control systems are not suitable because of low pointing accuracy, hence active attitude control systems are mostly used. The attitude control mainly consists of actuators, attitude sensors, and a controller. Among the various actuators, magnetic actuators are used in nanosatellites. In magnetic actuators, the magnetic field is produced when current passes through the wire, which is used to generate the torque which is then used to control the attitude of the satellite. The magnetorquer can be of various designs and among these is the magnetorquer rod, which consists of magnetic material as a core and wire winding over it which carries the current. The magnetorquer rod can be optimized by varying different parameters, such as core radius, core length, diameter of the wire, applied voltage, etc. The analysis is mostly done by analyzing parameters, such as torque–power ratio, magnetic field–power ratio with respect to different diameters of wire, power, generated torque, and thermal analysis. This article also consists of a comparison of magnetorquer design with commercially available magnetorquers.