A microchannel plate nitrogen purging apparatus

Abstract

The application discloses a kind of microchannel plate nitrogen blowing protection equipment, comprising: integrated design protective cover and nitrogen blowing port, and pressing device, unfolding device, power supply system and control subsystem;Protective cover is covered in sensor head, shape is consistent with sensor head shape;Nitrogen blowing port blows nitrogen into sensor interior to prevent pollution in ground test stage;Before satellite launch, use plugging cap to block, prevent dust pollution;Pressing device is pressed tightly with sensor head when system is in protection state, according to the instruction of control subsystem, hot cutting releases protective cover;Unfolding device cooperates with pressing device, realizes the unfolding of protective cover, and is locked after releasing protective cover to specified position;Power supply system supplies power to pressing device according to the instruction of control subsystem;Control subsystem periodically acquires state monitoring parameter and is transmitted to load management unit, according to ground remote control instruction control on-off of pressing device, carries out the unfolding operation of system.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the invention application with application number "2025106542011", invention title "An Intelligent Protection System for a Plasma Detector", and application date of May 21, 2025. Technical Field

[0002] This research relates to key technologies in space plasma detection, particularly a microchannel plate nitrogen blowing protection device. Background Technology

[0003] Microchannel plates (MCPs), as the core component inside the plasma detector sensor for space environment detection, are used to amplify the input charge and output it to the back-end scientific data acquisition electronics, ultimately enabling the measurement and analysis of charged particles in the space environment. The MCP structure consists of numerous micropores, with the inner surface of each micropore coated with a coating that has a high secondary electron emission coefficient.

[0004] Microplasma colloids (MCPs) are hydrophilic, and their surface coatings are fragile, making their micropores easily clogged and highly sensitive to environmental cleanliness. Volatile water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases in the atmosphere, non-volatile pollutants such as oil and other hydrocarbon molecules, and large dust particles (larger than the microchannel pore size) can all contaminate MCPs, leading to performance degradation or shortened lifespan, severely impacting the achievement of scientific detection objectives by plasma detectors. Therefore, designing protective measures for MCPs is a crucial step in ensuring the normal operation of plasma detectors.

[0005] Although the ultimate detection condition for the plasma detector is the vacuum environment of space, the ground testing phase requires exposure to the atmosphere. Water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other substances in the atmosphere can contaminate the MCP. In addition, some dust-raising activities after satellite launch will inevitably result in a large amount of dust and other pollutants in the surrounding environment, which can enter the instrument and contaminate the MCP.

[0006] Therefore, it is essential to develop a sensor protection system for plasma detectors to protect them during the ground testing phase and the initial orbital insertion period. Furthermore, as the core component of the plasma detector, the sensor can only perform relevant scientific detections if it effectively receives charged particles from the space environment. Therefore, this protection system needs to be extremely reliable, ensuring it operates normally during scientific exploration and remains operational for extended periods. Summary of the Invention

[0007] The purpose of this invention is to overcome the defects of the prior art and to propose a microchannel plate nitrogen blowing protection device.

[0008] In view of this, the present invention proposes a microchannel plate nitrogen blowing protection device, comprising: a microchannel plate, an integrated protective cover and a nitrogen blowing port, as well as a pressing device, an unfolding device, an electronic power supply system and a control subsystem;

[0009] The microchannel plate is a core component inside the plasma detector sensor for space environment detection. It is used to amplify the input charge and output it to the back-end scientific data acquisition electronics, ultimately realizing the measurement and analysis of charged particles in the space environment. The structure of the microchannel plate is composed of a large number of micropores, and the inner surface of the micropores is coated with a coating with a high secondary electron emission coefficient.

[0010] The protective cover encloses the sensor head, has the same shape as the sensor head, and is larger in size than the sensor head.

[0011] The nitrogen blowing port is used to continuously blow nitrogen into the sensor during the ground testing phase, effectively reducing the content of contaminating gases around the microchannel plate, thereby achieving the purpose of preventing contamination of the microchannel plate; it is also used to seal the microchannel plate with a sealing cap before satellite launch to protect it from dust contamination during the initial orbital insertion phase; the nitrogen blowing port is a hollow cylinder with a threaded outer side.

[0012] The clamping device is used to clamp the protective cover to the sensor head when the system is in a protected state, and is also used to release the protective cover by thermal cutting according to the instructions of the control subsystem.

[0013] The unfolding device is used in conjunction with the pressing device to unfold the protective cover and lock it after the protective cover is released to the designated position;

[0014] The power supply system is used to supply power to the pressing device according to the instructions of the control subsystem;

[0015] The control subsystem is used to periodically collect status monitoring parameters and transmit them to the load management unit. It is also used to control the power supply of the clamping device according to the ground remote control command received by the load management unit and to execute the deployment operation of the system.

[0016] The control subsystem includes: a heating wire power-off control module and a status monitoring module; wherein...

[0017] The heating wire power-off control module is used to generate a power-on signal according to a power-on command and a power-off signal according to a power-off command or an internal timed power-off flag.

[0018] The status monitoring module is used to collect the voltage of the protection circuit monitoring point, the voltage of the pressing device temperature monitoring point, and the voltage of the unfolding device monitoring point, and pack and cache them in the data cache area;

[0019] The processing steps of the heating wire and power-off control module include:

[0020] When power-on command A is received, a power-on signal for the first heating wire is generated;

[0021] When power-on command B is received, a power-on signal for the second heating wire is generated;

[0022] When the power-on command C is received, a signal is generated to simultaneously power on both sets of heating wires.

[0023] When a power-off command is received, a power-off signal is generated for both sets of heating wires to be cut off simultaneously.

[0024] When no power-off command is received, and the power-on duration has reached the power-on duration stored in the control parameter storage area, a power-off signal is generated for both heating wires simultaneously.

[0025] When no power-off command is received, and the heating wire power-on time has not reached the power-on duration of the storage area, but has reached the maximum duration set internally, two sets of heating wire power-off signals are generated simultaneously.

[0026] The status monitoring module controls the AD converter to periodically collect the voltage of monitoring points; the monitoring points include: protection circuit status monitoring points, protection system temperature monitoring points, and protection system deployment status monitoring points; wherein...

[0027] The protection circuit status monitoring point is the protection circuit monitoring point led out from the first branch of the power supply system fuse path;

[0028] The temperature monitoring point of the protection system is a monitoring point led out from the thermistor and the 4.7kΩ resistor in series, wherein the thermistor is MF5802 and is pulled up to 5V in series with the 4.7kΩ resistor;

[0029] The monitoring point for the deployment status of the protection system is a monitoring point led out from the middle of the micro switch and the 4.7kΩ resistor connected in series, wherein the micro switch and the 4.7kΩ resistor are connected in series and pulled up to 5V;

[0030] The control subsystem further includes: an instruction receiving and parsing module and a data packaging and sending module, wherein...

[0031] The instruction receiving and parsing module is used to receive ground remote control instructions, which include power-on instructions, power-off instructions and satellite attitude information. The power-on instructions and power-off instructions are sent to the heating wire power-on and power-off control module, and the satellite attitude information is sent to the data packet sending module.

[0032] The data packaging and transmission module is used to obtain the status monitoring parameters collected by the sensors from the buffer area, package them with the satellite attitude information, and send them to the payload management unit via RS422 according to the set period, and then transmit them to the ground.

[0033] Preferably, the clamping device includes a fiber rope, auxiliary accessories, and a power-heated cutting device;

[0034] The fiber rope and accessories are used to generate a clamping force to counteract the unfolding torque generated by the unfolding device and press the protective cover and sensor head together.

[0035] The power heating cutting device is used to melt the fiber rope by heating when the system performs the unfolding operation, thereby releasing the counteracting torque generated by the clamping device and releasing the protective cover.

[0036] The power heating cutting device is equipped with two independent heating wires, enabling three thermal cutting methods: each heating wire is energized individually, and both heating wires are energized simultaneously.

[0037] Preferably, the power supply system includes: a short-circuit protection circuit and a magnetic latching relay on / off control module, wherein,

[0038] The short-circuit protection circuit employs two sets of unbalanced parallel fuse paths with identical structures. Each fuse path includes two parallel branches. The first branch consists of two 1Ω / 1W resistors connected in parallel and then connected in series with an MGA-S-125V-2.1A fuse. The second branch consists of an MGA-S-125V-2.1A fuse. In the first branch, the protection circuit monitoring point is led out from the connection point between the two resistors and the fuse.

[0039] The magnetic latching relay on / off control module includes two 2JB2-1-5B magnetic latching relays, which are connected in series with each set of fuse circuits and correspond to a set of heating wires in the power heating cutting device. They are used to independently control the power on / off of the heating wires in the power heating cutting device according to the power on / off signal of the control subsystem.

[0040] Preferably, the unfolding device includes: a spring hinge, a limiting device, and a dust cover, wherein,

[0041] The spring hinge is used to generate a driving torque to spring open the protective cover, and locks it after the protective cover is unfolded to the designated position;

[0042] The limiting device is used to ensure that the locking hook is locked after the protective cover is fully deployed, so as to prevent the protective cover from springing back after being deployed.

[0043] The dust cover is used to prevent dust and pollutants from entering the spring hinge, causing the spring hinge to jam and affecting the deployment of the protective system.

[0044] Compared with the prior art, the advantages of the present invention are:

[0045] 1. This invention designs a microchannel plate nitrogen blowing protection device. In order to meet the needs of ground testing, a nitrogen blowing port is designed so that the MCP can be purged with nitrogen during the ground testing phase. In order to meet the dust environment during launch and the initial stage of orbit insertion, an on-board status monitoring and remote deployment system is designed so that the protection system can be deployed on orbit under good environmental conditions.

[0046] 2. This invention incorporates different backup schemes for both the power-on deployment and power-off of the protection system. The heating wire used for deployment features two independent power supply systems and two independent heating wires, enabling three different power-on schemes. After deployment, the power-off of the heating wire is designed with three different power-off schemes within the control system. This design of different power-on and power-off schemes effectively ensures the smooth and safe deployment of the protection system in orbit. Attached Figure Description

[0047] Figure 1 A block diagram of a microchannel plate nitrogen blowing protection device;

[0048] Figure 2 It is a plasma detector with an onboard intelligent protection system;

[0049] Figure 3 This is a block diagram of the electronic system principle;

[0050] Figure 4 This is a block diagram of the control subsystem principle;

[0051] Figure 5 This is a flowchart of the heating wire and power-off process. Detailed Implementation

[0052] This invention overcomes the problem that MCPs are easily contaminated by water vapor, carbon dioxide, oil and other hydrocarbon molecules, large dust particles in the working environment, which causes the plasma detector's detection performance to decline or be lost. It proposes a microchannel plate nitrogen blowing protection device.

[0053] The microchannel plate nitrogen blowing protection device is shaped identically to the sensor head, with its edges tightly fitting the sensor head and a protective cover enveloping it. A small nitrogen blowing port is designed at the top of the protection system to provide protection against atmospheric pollution. Nitrogen blowing is an effective method to prevent MCP contamination. During ground-based atmospheric environment testing, dry, clean, high-purity nitrogen is continuously and actively blown into the sensor through the nitrogen blowing port, effectively reducing the concentration of polluting gases around the MCP and thus achieving MCP contamination prevention. Nitrogen blowing is stopped before satellite launch, and the nitrogen blowing port is sealed with a protective cap, thus achieving the protection purpose for sensor ground testing and the initial orbital insertion phase. After the satellite enters orbit, once the vacuum and cleanliness of the surrounding environment meet the operating conditions of the plasma detector, the intelligent protection system is automatically deployed to the designated position on-board via remote control commands injected from the ground.

[0054] The microchannel plate nitrogen blowing protection equipment includes: a protective cover, a nitrogen blowing port, a clamping device, a deployment device, a power supply system, and a control system. In an environment with a pollution source, the intelligent protection system closes, the protective cover is tightly fitted to the sensor, and the clamping device locks in place. The control system periodically collects and returns status monitoring parameters. After the ground control system determines that the environmental condition meets the requirements of the plasma detector sensor, it injects a remote control command. The control system then controls the power supply system to supply power to the clamping device according to the received command. The clamping device and the deployment device work together to deploy the protection system.

[0055] The clamping device includes a power-heated cutting unit with two independent heating wires, enabling three different thermal cutting methods (heating wire 1 powered alone, heating wire 2 powered alone, and heating wires 1 and 2 powered simultaneously). The power supply system features an independent protection circuit and a power-on / off control module. The protection system incorporates temperature and deployment status monitoring points on the clamping device and protection circuit status monitoring points within the power supply system. The control system periodically collects monitoring parameters and packages them together with satellite attitude information received from the payload management unit for transmission. After the satellite enters orbit, it can make relevant control decisions based on the monitored status parameters and satellite attitude information to control the deployment of the protection system.

[0056] The technical solution of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0057] Example

[0058] The present invention provides a microchannel plate nitrogen blowing protection device system, including a protective cover, a nitrogen blowing port, a clamping device, a deployment device, a power supply system, and a control system. Figure 1 , Figure 2 As shown.

[0059] The protective cover has the same shape as the sensor head, and its overall dimensions are slightly larger than the outer contour of the sensor. In the closed state, the protective cover is tightly fitted to the sensor, and the clamping device is in a clamping state.

[0060] The nitrogen purging port and protective cover are machined as a single unit. The nitrogen purging port is a hollow cylinder of a certain length. In actual use, nitrogen gas can be injected into the protective cover after the nitrogen purging port is connected to the nitrogen purging pipeline. To prevent the nitrogen purging pipeline from easily coming loose after being connected to the nitrogen purging port, the hollow cylinder of the nitrogen purging port is designed with threads on the outside, which can effectively increase the coefficient of friction and increase resistance.

[0061] The clamping device includes fiber optic cables, a power-heated cutting device, and related accessories. Its main function is to use the fiber optic cables and accessories to generate clamping force when the onboard intelligent protection system of the plasma detector is in a protected (closed) state, counteracting the deployment torque generated by the deployment device and clamping the protective cover to the sensor head. When the onboard intelligent protection system needs to perform a deployment operation, the power-heated cutting device heats up, melting the fiber optic cables and releasing the counteracting torque generated by the clamping device, thus releasing the protective cover. The power-heated cutting device internally has primary and backup heating wires; the two heating wires are independently powered, enabling single-wire heating or simultaneous heating of both wires.

[0062] The deployment device includes a spring hinge, a limiting device, and a dust cover. Its main function is to generate a driving torque. After the clamping device is unlocked, the driving torque generated by the spring hinge springs the protective cover open, and locks it after it has been deployed to the designated position. The driving torque of the spring hinge in this device is designed to be more than three times the spring hinge's own resistance torque. The limiting device ensures that the locking hook is engaged after the protective cover is fully deployed, preventing the cover from springing back. To avoid the influence of lunar dust and other space dust on the deployment device, a dust cover for the deployment device has been specially designed.

[0063] like Figure 3 As shown, the main function of the power supply system is to provide primary power to the power heating cutting device of the clamping device. The power supply system has a short circuit protection circuit, a protection circuit monitoring point, and a magnetic latching relay on / off control module. The short circuit protection circuit achieves the short circuit protection function by using two sets of unbalanced parallel fuse paths. The fuse path (1) is designed as two 1Ω / 1W resistors connected in parallel and then connected in series with an MGA-S-125V-2.1A fuse. The fuse path (2) is an MGA-S-125V-2.1A fuse. The connection point between the two 1Ω / 1W resistors and the MGA-S-125V-2.1A fuse in the fuse path (1) leads to the protection circuit monitoring point. The protection circuit monitoring point is used to monitor the status of the short circuit protection circuit. The magnetic latching relay 2JB2-1-5B on / off control module can independently control the on / off of the two heating wires according to the on / off power signal of the control system.

[0064] like Figure 4 As shown, the control subsystem includes a heating wire power-off control module, a status monitoring module, an instruction receiving and parsing module, and a data packaging and sending module.

[0065] The instruction receiving and parsing module can receive remote power-on commands, power-off commands, and satellite attitude information from the load management unit, and transmit the power-on / power-off signals of the clamping device to the heating wire power-on / power-off control module, and transmit the attitude information to the data packet sending module.

[0066] The heating wire power-off control module independently controls the corresponding relay to close and energize the target heating wire based on the received power-on command. To ensure that the heating wire is de-energized in a timely manner after the protection system is switched off, the heating wire power-off control module is designed with three different power-off strategies:

[0067] Strategy (1): Upon receiving a power-off command, control the relay to disconnect;

[0068] Strategy (2): If no power-off command is received and the power-on duration has reached the power-on duration stored in the control parameter storage area, the control relay is disconnected;

[0069] Strategy (3): If no power-off command is received and the heating wire power-on time has not reached the power-on duration of the storage area, but has reached the maximum allowable duration of 120s within the program, then the control relay is disconnected;

[0070] The specific process is as follows: Figure 5 As shown, this design can effectively ensure that the heating wire is successfully powered off after the protection system is deployed, avoiding equipment damage caused by excessive heating time.

[0071] The telemetry status acquisition module in the status monitoring module controls the AD converter to periodically acquire the voltage of the protection circuit monitoring status, the voltage of the protection system temperature monitoring point, and the voltage of the protection system deployment status monitoring point, and packs and caches them in the data buffer. Specifically, the temperature monitoring point uses a thermistor MF5802, pulled up to 5V in series with a 4.7kΩ resistor, with the monitoring point led out from the middle of the thermistor and the 4.7kΩ resistor. The deployment status monitoring point uses a microswitch, pulled up to 5V in series with a 4.7kΩ resistor, with the monitoring point led out from the middle of the microswitch and the 4.7kΩ resistor.

[0072] The data packet transmission module sends the collected data to the payload management unit via the RS422 interface at a rate of 1 second per packet, and then transmits it to the ground control system.

[0073] It is worth noting that in the embodiments of the above system, the modules included are divided according to functional logic, but are not limited to the above division, as long as the corresponding functions can be achieved; in addition, the specific names of each functional module are only for easy differentiation and are not used to limit the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0074] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention and are not intended to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications or equivalent substitutions to the technical solutions of the present invention do not depart from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the present invention, and all such modifications or substitutions should be covered within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A microchannel plate nitrogen blowing protection device, characterized in that, include: Microchannel plate, integrated protective cover and nitrogen inlet, as well as clamping device, deployment device, power supply system and control subsystem; The microchannel plate is a core component inside the plasma detector sensor for space environment detection. It is used to amplify the input charge and output it to the back-end scientific data acquisition electronics, ultimately realizing the measurement and analysis of charged particles in the space environment. The structure of the microchannel plate is composed of a large number of micropores, and the inner surface of the micropores is coated with a coating with a high secondary electron emission coefficient. The protective cover encloses the sensor head, has the same shape as the sensor head, and is larger in size than the sensor head. The nitrogen blowing port is used to continuously blow nitrogen into the sensor during the ground testing phase, effectively reducing the content of contaminating gases around the microchannel plate, thereby achieving the purpose of preventing contamination of the microchannel plate; it is also used to seal the microchannel plate with a sealing cap before satellite launch to protect it from dust contamination during the initial orbital insertion phase; the nitrogen blowing port is a hollow cylinder with a threaded outer side. The clamping device is used to clamp the protective cover to the sensor head when the system is in a protected state, and is also used to release the protective cover by thermal cutting according to the instructions of the control subsystem. The unfolding device is used in conjunction with the pressing device to unfold the protective cover and lock it after the protective cover is released to the designated position; The power supply system is used to supply power to the pressing device according to the instructions of the control subsystem; The control subsystem is used to periodically collect status monitoring parameters and transmit them to the load management unit. It is also used to control the power supply of the clamping device according to the ground remote control command received by the load management unit and to execute the deployment operation of the system. The control subsystem includes: a heating wire power-off control module and a status monitoring module; wherein... The heating wire power-off control module is used to generate a power-on signal according to a power-on command and a power-off signal according to a power-off command or an internal timed power-off flag. The status monitoring module is used to collect the voltage of the protection circuit monitoring point, the voltage of the pressing device temperature monitoring point, and the voltage of the unfolding device monitoring point, and pack and cache them in the data cache area; The processing steps of the heating wire and power-off control module include: When power-on command A is received, a power-on signal for the first heating wire is generated; When power-on command B is received, a power-on signal for the second heating wire is generated; When the power-on command C is received, a signal is generated to simultaneously power on both sets of heating wires. When a power-off command is received, a power-off signal is generated for both sets of heating wires to be cut off simultaneously. When no power-off command is received, and the power-on duration has reached the power-on duration stored in the control parameter storage area, a power-off signal is generated for both heating wires simultaneously. When no power-off command is received, and the heating wire power-on time has not reached the power-on duration of the storage area, but has reached the maximum duration set internally, two sets of heating wire power-off signals are generated simultaneously. The status monitoring module controls the AD converter to periodically collect the voltage of monitoring points; the monitoring points include: protection circuit status monitoring points, protection system temperature monitoring points, and protection system deployment status monitoring points; wherein... The protection circuit status monitoring point is the protection circuit monitoring point led out from the first branch of the power supply system fuse path; The temperature monitoring point of the protection system is a monitoring point led out from the thermistor and the 4.7kΩ resistor in series, wherein the thermistor is MF5802 and is pulled up to 5V in series with the 4.7kΩ resistor; The monitoring point for the deployment status of the protection system is a monitoring point led out from the middle of the micro switch and the 4.7kΩ resistor connected in series, wherein the micro switch and the 4.7kΩ resistor are connected in series and pulled up to 5V; The control subsystem further includes: an instruction receiving and parsing module and a data packaging and sending module, wherein... The instruction receiving and parsing module is used to receive ground remote control instructions, which include power-on instructions, power-off instructions and satellite attitude information. The power-on instructions and power-off instructions are sent to the heating wire power-on and power-off control module, and the satellite attitude information is sent to the data packet sending module. The data packaging and transmission module is used to obtain the status monitoring parameters collected by the sensors from the buffer area, package them with the satellite attitude information, and send them to the payload management unit via RS422 according to the set period, and then transmit them to the ground.

2. The microchannel plate nitrogen blowing protection device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The clamping device includes fiber ropes, accessories, and a power-heated cutting device; The fiber rope and accessories are used to generate a clamping force to counteract the unfolding torque generated by the unfolding device and press the protective cover and sensor head together. The power heating cutting device is used to melt the fiber rope by heating when the system performs the unfolding operation, thereby releasing the counteracting torque generated by the clamping device and releasing the protective cover. The power heating cutting device is equipped with two independent heating wires, enabling three thermal cutting methods: each heating wire is energized individually, and both heating wires are energized simultaneously.

3. The microchannel plate nitrogen blowing protection device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The power supply system includes: a short-circuit protection circuit and a magnetic latching relay on / off control module, wherein, The short-circuit protection circuit employs two sets of unbalanced parallel fuse paths with identical structures. Each fuse path includes two parallel branches. The first branch consists of two 1Ω / 1W resistors connected in parallel and then connected in series with an MGA-S-125V-2.1A fuse. The second branch consists of an MGA-S-125V-2.1A fuse. In the first branch, the protection circuit monitoring point is led out from the connection point between the two resistors and the fuse. The magnetic latching relay on / off control module includes two 2JB2-1-5B magnetic latching relays, which are connected in series with each set of fuse circuits and correspond to a set of heating wires in the power heating cutting device. They are used to independently control the power on / off of the heating wires in the power heating cutting device according to the power on / off signal of the control subsystem.

4. The microchannel plate nitrogen blowing protection device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The unfolding device includes: a spring hinge, a limiting device, and a dust cover, wherein... The spring hinge is used to generate a driving torque to spring open the protective cover, and locks it after the protective cover is unfolded to the designated position; The limiting device is used to ensure that the locking hook is locked after the protective cover is fully deployed, so as to prevent the protective cover from springing back after being deployed. The dust cover is used to prevent dust and pollutants from entering the spring hinge, causing the spring hinge to jam and affecting the deployment of the protective system.

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