Powering test bench for Ariane Group

SABCA is the European Market Leader for design and manufacturing of all Ariane 5 rocket engine Actuators. For the next generation European Launchers, Ariane 6 and Vega C, SABCA is providing the complete Trust Vector Control (TVC) system.

A Thrust Vector Control System typically includes electromechanical or hydraulic actuators, an integrated power and drive unit containing all the electronics and a power source either as batteries or as pressurized fluid.

Defined simply, an actuator is a device that converts energy (in our case, electricity) to mechanical in such a way that it can be controlled. The role of the actuators is to move the engines in the desired position by consuming or receiving electric energy, supplied by batteries.

In addition to the design and the manufacture of these actuators, SABCA must also test these actuators. The tests are not done, most of the time, with the batteries powering them, but with electrical tailor-made power supplies. Their role is to simulate and reproduce the operation of the batteries embedded in the launchers. Therefore, these power supplies need to be very specific and adapted to different applications.

Actuators are tested with Jema power supplies whose characteristics are very particular and meet very specific requirement. As we have years of experience in industrial applications, we have the skills in-house to answer SABCA’s precise needs. Therefore, we designed and manufactured multiple versions of bi-directional power supplies, from 30kW to 100kW to match the different tests situations.