title: High-power, null-type, inverted pendulum thrust stand.
abstract: This article presents the theory and operation of a null-type, inverted pendulum thrust stand. The thrust stand design supports thrusters having a total mass up to 250 kg and measures thrust over a range of 1 mN to 5 N. The design uses a conventional inverted pendulum to increase sensitivity, coupled with a null-type feature to eliminate thrust alignment error due to deflection of thrust. The thrust stand position serves as the input to the null-circuit feedback control system and the output is the current to an electromagnetic actuator. Mechanical oscillations are actively damped with an electromagnetic damper. A closed-loop inclination system levels the stand while an active cooling system minimizes thermal effects. The thrust stand incorporates an in situ calibration rig. The thrust of a 3.4 kW Hall thruster is measured for thrust levels up to 230 mN. The uncertainty of the thrust measurements in this experiment is +/-0.6%, determined by examination of the hysteresis, drift of the zero offset and calibration slope variation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Aerospace Engineering, High-Power Electric Propulsion Laboratory, Georgia Institute of Technology, College of Engineering, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
authors.forename: Kunning G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Mitchell L R
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Walker