Firefly Optimization Design And Simulation Of A Single-Axis Helmholtz Coils For Spacecraft Components Testing

Alao O. J., Metu M. O., Amibor I. P., Ibe C. C., Oluyombo O. W.

Geomagnetic field affects the attitude of Spacecraft. Thus, in order to prevent magnetic interference in spacecraft, there is need to measure the magnetic moment of spacecraft, eliminate the residual magnetism, and verify the magnetic characteristics of the subsystems and components for attitude control. This paper presents the design of a single-axis Helmholtz coils using firefly, a multi-objective metaheuristic optimization algorithm. The ultimate goal of optimization design in this research is to investigate the optimum coil geometry that will produce the maximum homogeneous magnetic field inside the coils. The modified Firefly Optimization Algorithm (FOA) was written using MATLAB program to obtain the optimum parameters for the Helmholtz coils. The parameters obtained were used to simulate magnetic field inside the coils. Simulations were carried out on three different coils geometries which served to investigate the coil geometry capable of producing maximum homogenous magnetic field inside the coils. The three coils geometries investigated are two rectangular and a square shapes. The first of the three designs is a square geometry where side “a = b”, the second is a rectangular geometry, where side “a = 2b”, while the third is also a rectangular geometry with side “a = 1/2 b”. It was observed that optimum magnetic field was achieved when the geometry of Helmholtz coils is a square shape. We can therefore conclude from the results obtained that the magnetic field is very homogeneous as long as the shape of the Helmholtz coils is approximately a square.