Vol 21, No 2 (2020)

To participate the TPP with cross-section communications in the general primary frequency control, it is necessary to have a working main regulator. The main regulator is designed to maintain the steam pressure in the major steam line of the TPP at a given level, which is a difficult task. At the TPP with cross-connections, the steam produced by the boilers enters the major steam line. To maintain the pressure in the major steam line, it is necessary to control the heat load of the working boilers. Traditional solutions to construct the main regulator found no use, as have a number of disadvantages, not allowing exploiting a system of automatic control. Looking at the steam pressure control system in the major steam line from the bottom to up, it is possible to identify disadvantages that prevent the effective operation of the main regulator at each level. At the lower level of the main regulator, there are controllers of heat load of boilers, built according to the scheme task-heat. Heat load controllers are designed to maintain heat release in the boiler furnace at the required level. The heat signal is the sum of the signals for the steam flow of the boiler and the rate of change in the steam pressure in the boiler drum. Such a structure does not allow maintaining the invariance of the heat signal under external disturbances effectively, as sharp changes of the steam pressure in the major steam line lead to a "false" operation of the controllers. At the upper level there is the main regulator itself, which maintains the steam pressure in the major steam line at a given level and corrects the tasks to the controllers of the heat load of the boilers. The simultaneous identical effect on the heat load of the boilers cannot be optimal from the point of view of the criteria for assessing the quality of regulation, since the dynamic properties of the boilers, such as the gain, the transition time constant and the transport delay are individual for each boiler.

However, in 2006–2008, the attempt to build an updated main regulator that takes into account the shortcomings of the traditional scheme was made. The basis of the structure of the main regulator is still parametric and, as a result of ten-years’ experience, shortcomings in the operation of the updated main regulator were identified. The shortcomings, in most cases, consist in need of frequent corrections of adjusting coefficients of system because of the change of dynamic properties of an object during the operation. In fact, the same problems related to the parametric structure of the regulator remain.

Up-to-date information technologies made it possible to introduce adaptive process control systems that allow to count an extended number of signals entering the system and to form control actions, based on both current and historical data of the technological process. The use of the latest information technologies and modern hardware in the control of complex multi-connected units that solve not only the problems of process control, but also the problem of improving the economic and environmental performance of enterprises, should become a new step in the development of automatic control systems.

The research gives nonparametric identification algorithms under the conditions of incomplete a priory information. The identification case differs from the previously known ones due to the fact that, besides the control action, an uncontrollable variable, but a measurable one, impacts on the object input. In contrast to parametric identification, the research considers the situation when the equations describing dynamic objects are not given with accuracy to the parameters. In this case, there are some features to study while getting the recovery characteristics of various object channels. The main characteristic is that the transition response of a channel is taken when the other channel is in a stable position. Moreover, the identification problem is analyzed under normal object operation, opposite to the previously known nonparametric approach based on Heaviside function input to the object and further Duhamel integral application. An arbitrary signal is input to the object during normal operation as a result we have a corresponding response of the object output. It should be noted that the measurements of the input and output variables are carried out with random noise. As a result, we have a sample of input-output variables. As linear dynamical system can be described by the Duhamel integral, with known input and output object variables, corresponding values of the weight function can be found. This is achieved by discrete representation of the latter. Having such realization, nonparametric estimate of the weight function in the form of the nonparametric Nadaraya-Watson estimate is used later. Substituting this with the Duhamel integral, we obtain a nonparametric model of a linear dynamical system of unknown order.

The article also describes the case of constructing nonparametric model when a delta-shaped function is input to the object. It is interesting to find out how delta-shaped function might differ from the delta function. The weight function is determined in the class of nonparametric Nadaraya-Watson estimates. Previously proposed nonparametric algorithms consider the case when Heaviside function is applied to the object; this narrows the scope of nonparametric identification practical use. It is important to construct nonparametric model of the dynamic object under conditions of normal operation.

This paper deals with the testing of the functioning logic of spacecraft subsystems at the stage of developing system onboard software. The increasing complexity of the structure and operation logic of spacecraft due to the increased requirements in terms of providing consumers with information services (navigation, satellite monitoring of transport, geodesy, communications etc.) demands maintaining the reliability of uninterrupted operation, the implementation of automated parrying of emergency situations during the operation of spacecraft onboard equipment. In order to meet these requirements, it is necessary to test the interaction of onboard equipment and onboard integrated computing complex software that implements the target-oriented operation of spacecraft onboard systems. In such a case, meeting the requirements for reliability increase of onboard software should not lead to the increase of the manufacturing period of spacecraft.

In this work we propose the approach for testing information and logical interaction between onboard equipment and software of a spacecraft onboard integrated computing complex with the use of a laboratory testing sample unit and a software-mathematical model. We described the basic concepts of conducting two-stage testing of onboard software, involving autonomous and system testing on the ground testing complex. The proposed approach is applied as part of the onboard software development cycle in accordance with the standards of the JSC “Academician M.F. Reshetnev “Information Satellite Systems”.

The approach proposed in this work helps reduce the number of errors during onboard software development and testing of information and logical interaction between onboard equipment and a spacecraft as a whole in every operation mode.

At present, developed tools and libraries have been designed for imperative and functional programming languages that provide parallelism through processes or threads. There are other alternative approaches to the organization of parallel computing, one of which is implemented in Pythagor – the language of functional-streaming parallel programming, and involves parallelism at the level of operations.

The tools of the Pythagor programming language are actively developing, and the repository of predefined functions is expanding. Many mathematical functions have been designed to provide a developer with no less functionality than the math library math.h of the C programming language. A large part of the mathematical functions have been implemented using the Maclaurin’s series. It is both used as an approach of faster and less accurate calculations, in which a predetermined number of elements of the series is calculated without cycles and recursions with the substitution of pre-calculated coefficients in the function code, and as an approach of less rapid and more accurate calculations, in which the elements of the series are calculated dynamically until the desired accuracy is achieved.

The development of a library of mathematical functions of a programming language is an applied algorithmic task already implemented in one way or another for a number of existing programming languages. But in many languages, the implementation of algorithms for mathematical functions is hidden from the user, while modern tools of the Pythagor language support an open repository of functions. Additional interest is the possibility of parallelism at the level of operations in the calculation of mathematical formulas in the Pythagor language.

A two-level system of data transmission in the optical range is considered between a low-orbit spacecraft located in a sun-synchronous orbit and a repeater satellite located in a geostationary orbit. This topic is rather relevant due to the fact that the rapid development of remote sensing satellites resulted in the increase of the amount of transmitted information, which in consequence introduced new requirements for communication systems. The increase of data transmission rate and severization of requirements for communication systems contributed to the development of one of the most promising areas of space communications, based on the information transmission via a laser channel, due to a high energy concentration and a much higher carrier frequency. The prospects for the application of optical communication systems are designated by lower power consumption, dimensional specifications and the mass of the transceiver equipment of the optical range (compared to radiofrequency range systems).

The article describes the solution of application of optical communication link between a low-orbit spacecraft and a repeater satellite. The main factors that contribute to the attenuation in the process of signal propagation along the route are presented and analyzed. A model of a communication channel between a low-orbit spacecraft and a repeater satellite is provided for a visual image. Two different approaches of mutual guidance and tracking of laser terminals are described for using beacons and without ones. EDRS foreign system is considered as an analogue. The estimation of the main parameters of the communication link is given.

The communication system considered in the article will allow for greater carrier capacity of the data transmission in the optical range between the low-orbit spacecraft and repeater satellite. The application of this system will allow solving problems, including in the interests of any departments and structures of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, for which the rate of obtaining information is one of the basic requirements for a satellite communication system. The tasks of precise targeting of receiving and transmitting devices arising as a result of narrow beam patterns can be solved with current technical means.

Low mass flow centrifugal pumps are currently widely used in the energy supply system of liquid rocket engines, the engines of correction, docks, consisting of on-Board power sources on-Board sources power supply system of fuel components in the in gas generator systems for inflating fuel tanks, and in temperature control systems of aircraft and spacecraft.

When designing low mass flow centrifugal pumps for aerospace purposes, methods for calculating and optimizing the flow rate are often used corresponding to the design methods of full-size centrifugal pumps, which limits the mode and design potential of pumps and affects their energy characteristics and reliability. Reliability requirements often lead to the need to reserve units and fuel-supply systems.

Despite the large amount of research works, the issues of reliable design of low mass flow centrifugal pumps with high energy and operational parameters for spacecraft and aircraft remains an urgent task.

The article analyses the operational parameters of low mass flow centrifugal pumps used in aircraft and spacecraft power systems. Taking into account working fluid used and the temperature range, it was found that a laminar rotational flow with Reynolds number characteristic $\mathrm{Re}={10}^3÷3\cdot {10}^5$ is realized in the lateral cavity between the impeller and the pump housing.

The determination of power losses on disk friction of the impeller technique is developed taking into account design features and the applied schemes. Equations for determining the disk friction coefficients are consistent with the dependencies obtained by other authors. The obtained equations for the laminar rotational flow made it possible to determine the dependences for the resistance moment and the disk friction power of the impeller determining of a low mass flow centrifugal pump.

The aim of this work is to consider solving complex of tasks focused on fulfilling the complicated tactical and technical requirements for regulation and monitoring equipment (RME) of electric power supply system (EPS) for a prospective spacecraft. These requirements are imposed due to the need to ensure high reliability of the equipment during operation under the influence of external factors (vacuum, vibro-impact loads, radiation, absence of convective cooling), as well as to achieve high mass-dimensional parameters of the equipment and its high functionality

The complexity of problem solving lies in the need to ensure conflicting requirements – high levels of energy density, weight and size characteristics, reliability and durability.

These problems fully apply to the RME of the EPS for a prospective piloted transport system (PPTS) which design example shows ways of solving abovementioned problems.

The most rational way of solving these contradictions is to increase the specific energy indicators of the main components of the RME devices – power converters, which can be achieved by using modern power electronic elements, using new materials and semi-finished products, for example, printed circuit boards with a metal heat sink, as well as increasing the layout density design.

Determining solution is to select an optimal structure of the power converter, which provides the best efficiency.

An additional way to reduce the mass-dimensional indicators of the RME is the use of a digital control method, the collection of telemetric information, and the receiving and processing of commands.

At the same time, on the contrary, to ensure the specified reliability of the equipment, it is necessary to use excess reservation at the element level – for power components, and the principles of majority reservation at the functional block level – for control and telemetry schemes.

Using the example of RME, developed by CJSC “Orbita”, the main EPS parameters of a new generation spacecraft are shown and most important power supply subsystems are considered in the article: the solar energy control subsystem and the power storage subsystem, ways to build them for meeting specified requirements, taking into account the proposed solutions.

As a result of this work, the optimal structures of power converters – the current regulator of the solar battery and the current regulator of the battery – were selected, the basic principles of power components reservation ensuring the operability of the equipment in case of a single failure of any component without loss of performance and deterioration of RME parameters as a whole are shown.

Block-modular construction method is used for optimal layout and high reliability of the RME, it ensures uniform heat removal from electronic components, which is especially important in vacuum conditions, minimum dimensions and mass optimization of the RME, as well as high mechanical strength of the structure.

The implemented principles of building the RME for PPTS using this approach will allow to increase the active lifetime (ALT) and reliability of the spacecraft with a simultaneous decrease in mass and dimension parameters.

The paper provides an overview of space thermal propulsion (STP) systems using concentrated solar energy as the main source of power. The paper considers solar thermal rocket engines of various configurations including those with afterburning of hydrogen heated in the “concentrator – absorber” system (CAS) with various oxidizers. Together with hydrogen the oxidizers form high-energy fuel compositions with a high value of ratio of components mass flow-rates which allows reducing the dimension of the CAS. The extreme dependences of the engine thrust on the specific impulse are shown for various values ​​of the hydrogen heating temperature and the oxidizer-to-fuel ratio. The coefficients of the regression dependencies for the efficiency of a two-stage absorber and an absorber with the maximum non-isothermal heating having the highest possible energy efficiency are presented. The algorithms for calculating the main design parameters of the STP system as a part of a spacecraft (SC) are given, taking into account the ballistic parameters of the multi-turn transfer trajectory with multiple active segments applied to the STP systems having an energy-efficient non-isothermal CAS. The engine configurations with thermal heat accumulation and possible afterburning of heated hydrogen are also considered. Thermal accumulation allows accumulating energy in the solar-absorber during passive movement in the illuminated portions of the transfer orbits regardless of the lighting conditions of the apsidal orbit portions where the engine is turned on. Suitable heat-accumulating phase transition materials (HAM) such as the eutectic alloy of boron and silicon as well as refractory beryllium oxide are selected for different phases of the interorbital transfer to the geostationary Earth orbit (GEO). The main characteristics of different configurations of the STP systems in the problem of placing a spacecraft (SC) into high-energy GEO orbits are shown. A model of the SC-STP system operation is given taking into account ballistic parameters and the possibility of accumulating thermal energy. It is shown that the oxidizer-to-fuel ratio in STP systems with thermal energy storage (TES) increases with the decrease of the interorbital transfer time. The STP configurations with a two-stage TES showing a large energy-mass efficiency at moderate values ​​of the solar concentrator accuracy parameter are considered.

The most important resource for improving the performance of parts is the reduction of the surface roughness. One of the promising ways to reduce the surface roughness is the abrasive extrusion processing. When developing the AEP technology, it is necessary to know the flow rate (pressure) of the WE, which depends on the viscosity of the latter. In turn, the viscosity of the WE is determined by its temperature. The temperature of the working environment at AEP can be calculated if the coefficients of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of the WE are known. The working environment for AEP consists of two components, therefore, the coefficient of thermal conductivity can be calculated by known formulas. However, the calculation error is significant, therefore, the experimental determination of the above-mentioned coefficients is required. The installations for the coefficients research have been presented, the methods of conducting experiments have been developed. After mathematical processing of the experiments results by means of the AdvanceGrapher v. 2.11, the dependences of the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity on the abrasive concentration have been obtained. The studies of the thermophysical properties of the working environment have shown that the values ​​of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of the WE are mainly determined by the concentration of abrasive grains in the working environment. The direct dependence of these coefficients on the degree of filling the working environment with abrasive grains has been established.