High Precision Linear Actuator (HPLA)
SENER has developed under a contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) a High Precision Linear Actuator (HPLA) based on its own design, which combines the deformation of a flexible element with a threaded joint and transmission by gears to achieve conversion of rotary movement to linear movement.
This is the second actuator produced by the company under ESA’s General Support Technology Programme (GSTP). Before this came the linear actuator used in the IBDM project (International Berthing and Docking Mechanism) for developing berthing and docking systems for vehicles in space.
SENER has made an engineering model of the HPLA that, once tested, offers the following results: precision ranging from 1.62 microns to 6.95 microns, meaning that it complies with ESA’s requirements, which required a precision of less than 10 microns, a repeatability that varies from 2.30 to 4.45 microns, where the required value had to be less than 10 microns, a resolution (the advance per step of the motor) for a complete revolution, which comprises 200 steps, in step by step tests of 0.10 micron. ESA had required a resolution of less than 5 microns, meaning that, despite the non-linearity detected, the value obtained met this requirement; a total run of 17 mm with a moving load capacity of 10 kg.
