Design of Balanced Mechanisms based on Reconfiguration for Space Applications

Abstract

Often, one achieves the dynamic balancing condition by resorting to counter-devices approach, however, by doing this, one adds extra weight and therefore the inertia are increased inside the whole system, which is not cost-effective when the system is sent into space and later used in space. In this study, it is suggested one is able to achieve the reactionless condition through combining the self-balanced system. For example, the dynamic balancing condition can be realized via the reconfiguration concept. Extra counter-mass is not employed but through reconfiguring the whole structure, in this way, the system will not get to be heavy and therefore, reduce the energy costs and make the system more applicable and flexible for space applications. Based on this concept, first and foremost, one needs to balance a single component through the reconfiguration approach (i.e. decomposition process) and after that integrate the above balanced components to build the entire system (i.e. integration process). Finally, with the mechanical reconfiguration, the control laws governing the operation of the mechanism also need to be changed, so as to make whole systems more flexible when they are used in space.