Tenders Are Invited For Dust Resistant Rotary Actuator Technology - Expro Plus

Tenders are invited for Dust Resistant Rotary Actuator Technology - Expro Plus Actuator design is intrinsically sensitive to particle contamination due to harsh and dusty environment, due to the presence of tribological surfaces (bearings, gears) and low clearances between moving parts (e.g. motors airgaps). Specific technologies exists which could prevent or limit the entrance of dust inside the actuator housing, however their use is not fully proven for space applications. In view of future exploration mission, and particularly for lunar surface, a consolidation of such technology is required.Theactivity aims at consolidating existing technologies for mechanisms actuator suitable to be used in dusty environment, in view of future exploration missions. Mechanisms and actuators in particular suffer from particulate contamination due to presence of dust in the surrounding of their operational environment. In particular, tribological surfaces like those in the ball bearings or in the gears, as well as small clearances between moving parts, like in motor airgaps between stator and rotor, are prone to failure if particles are present. The present activity considers the progress made on this subject and consolidates a robust design in view of comingmissions for exploration.This activity encompasses the following tasks:- State of the art survey of dust protection techniques and trade off- Preliminary testing of most promising technologies for both static and dynamic sealings- Design activity of an actuator breadboard model embedding selected solutions- Manufacturing and testing in relevant environment including extended functional test- Consolidation of the results, lesson learnt and development plan preparationProcurement Policy: C(2) = A relevant participation (in terms of quality and quantity) of non-primes (incl. SMEs) is required Tender Link : https://esastar-publication-ext.sso.esa.int/ESATenderActions/filter/open