Open Access Paper
12 July 2019 Mitigating the effect of space small debris on COPV in space with fiber sensors monitoring and self‐repairing materials
Emile Haddad, Yi Zhao, Mert Celikin, Matteo Basti, Kamel Tagziria, Elad Wallach, Christopher Semprimoschnig, Ugo Lafont, Iain McKenzie
Author Affiliations +
Proceedings Volume 11180, International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2018; 111807C (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2536183
Event: International Conference on Space Optics - ICSO 2018, 2018, Chania, Greece
Abstract
Small space debris are a high risk for the walls of Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels (COPV), by making small holes and causing the fuel leak. Commonly the self-healing materials are used to keep the mechanical structure strength, here the hermeticity of the repaired portion is a stringent requirement, to prevent any potential fuel leak from the cryogenic tank in vacuum. The efficiency is compared for protective walls composed of a combination of various layers, using strong materials (Kevlar, Nextel) and self-healing commercial materials developed as bulletproof, e.g. the Ethylene-co-Meth Acrylic Acid (EMAA) and ReverlinkTM.

The small debris impact dynamic was detected and monitored with Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBG) sensors at very fast acquisition frequencies, up to 0.5 GHz (2 ns), measuring the variation of the total reflected signal by the FBG. The acquisition system is based on commercially available products. To measure the total wavelength spectrum, the fastest available spectrometer can go up to 2 MHz acquisition (Micron-Optics), which is insufficient to detect the hypervelocity impact. The impact pressure evolution of the FBG, placed in the middle layer, was compared with commonly used strain gauges placed a few layers further or on the back of the last layer. The measured impact time delay and relative intensity were compatible between the two sensing methods.

Some samples were characterized in details using the X-ray Computed Tomography at ESTEC, they permitted us to confirm the results by observing the details of the healing and follow the impact trajectory visually.
© (2019) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Emile Haddad, Yi Zhao, Mert Celikin, Matteo Basti, Kamel Tagziria, Elad Wallach, Christopher Semprimoschnig, Ugo Lafont, and Iain McKenzie "Mitigating the effect of space small debris on COPV in space with fiber sensors monitoring and self‐repairing materials", Proc. SPIE 11180, International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2018, 111807C (12 July 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2536183
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Cited by 4 scholarly publications.
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KEYWORDS
Fiber Bragg gratings

Sensors

Fiber optics sensors

Composites

Space sensors

X-ray computed tomography

Visualization

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