Development of Centrifuge for Multi-Parameter Combined Environmental Test

The centrifugal acceleration generated by centrifuge is used to simulate the linear acceleration in multi-parameter combined environmental test. To resolve the problems of current centrifuges, such as difficulty to maintain the balance of their arm and difficulty to install many devices on their arm, as their arm was cantilevered, a disc centrifuge which had large capacity of its arm was developed in this paper. The structure of the centrifuge was described in detail. To perform as a platform for other environmental test devices, power and compressed air for the devices on the centrifuge arm were supplied by slip ring and swivel joint respectively. Finite element analysis on the key parts of the centrifuge was performed to ensure their stiffness to meet the requirements. The control system and the precision of the centrifuge were also analyzed. Experimental results show that the centrifuge is slow to start and stop, and works smoothly, and that the acceleration generated by the centrifuge is stable, and that there is little influence on the power network when the centrifuge starts. The linear acceleration is simulated by the centrifuge quite well.