Design and analysis of a cable-winding device driving large deployable mechanisms in astrophysics missions

Abstract

Cables are widely used because of their light weight and wide range of arrangement. To guarantee successful deployment and retraction of cable-driven mechanisms, this paper proposes a novel cable-winding device to fulfil particular requirements of a space mission, such as a large driving force output, large cable displacement, and high reliability. The device consists of three parts: the transmission assembly, cable arrangement assembly, and redundancy motor assembly. The transmission assembly transforms the torque of a motor into a large driving force. Cables can be wound layer-by-layer on a winch with the cable arrangement assembly. The redundancy motor assembly ensures normal movement of the mechanism if one motor fails, and can offer greater torque than a single motor. A prototype of the proposed cable-winding device is fabricated, and experiments are conducted to verify the performance of the device. The device has also been used in a large telescopic boom, which further validates its feasibility for actuating deployable mechanisms.