Design, building and experimental results of a facility to test hysteresis rod parameters

A passive magnetic attitude control system is simple, easy to realize, low cost and does not require software development and energy consumption. Due to these features the passive magnetic attitude control system is one of the most common attitude control system implemented on board of small satellites. This type of attitude control system is based on a permanent magnet which provideы a restoring torque to align the satellite with the Earth magnetic field direction and an energy dissipation system which consists on a set of magnetic hysteresis rods. Predicting of performances in orbit and the obtainable accuracy with this type of system is not so easy. The main problem is represented by necessity of an accurate modelling of the hysteresis rod magnetization and by the evaluation of the magnetic parameters of rods. The purpose of this work is to design, develop and verify a facility to test rods hysteresis in the laboratory.