SEB TVC CAD

Designed for the Collegiate Propulsive Landing Challenge (CLPC), the Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system is intended to gimbal SEB's Lightbulb engine up to 10 degrees in any direction. The thrust is transferred through a combination of custom-made hardware and off-the-shelf parts which allow it to move in any direction while still vectoring the thrust through a central axis and a set of bearings. The movement of the TVC is achieved through a pair of REV NEO motors connected through a set of linkage arms.

Load cell mounting:

The system includes three radially symmetrical load cells to capture the asymmetrical thrust data produced by the engine's movement for the competition's requirements and for the team to better understand the engine's performance as it moves.

Gimbal assembly:

The gimbal assembly consists of four custom-made pillow blocks with 3/8th in bearings each rated to support 600 pounds of dynamic load. Since there are two on each axis, this gives a comfortable Factor Of Safety given that the engine produces ~600 pounds of thrust. The assembly also has a vast range of motion that greatly exceeds the minimum of 7 degrees required by the competition and the 10 degrees of movement we are aiming for.

Motor assembly:

The motors that power the TVC are REV Robotics NEO 400 Watt motors. They were chosen based on the worst-case failure scenario we have seen in the past on previous hot-fires and flights. It assumes a nozzle fracture during the burn which would produce a lot of asymmetrical thrust and put a lot of strain on the linkages and motors.