Control System of electrostatic levitation furnace

摘要

The electrostatic levitation furnace (ELF) is one of the experimental facilities for materials science research planned to be embarked on the International Space station. The most significant feature of the ELF is that is creates a free-drifting space inside the furnace chamber by controlling the experimental materials not to collide against the chamber wall. The purposes of this paper are to introduce the control system of the ELF and to show the results of a flight test on a small sounding rocket, called TR-IA.