Design, optimization and verification of a conical guiding origami mechanism for underwater docking station

Abstract

Underwater docking station requires a conical guiding device with a large tolerance capacity and smaller volume to recover unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). Here, this paper innovatively introduces a conical guiding origami mechanism designed by an array and rotation approach based on a rigid origami mechanism. The Jacobian matrix method systematically calculates the degree of freedom (DOF) of the device. The variation function of dihedral angle in the folding process of the origami mechanism is derived, and the kinematics model is established within the Cartesian coordinate system. Based on this model, we established a mathematical model for optimizing the origami mechanism by considering number of units and unit volume as the design variables, subject to minimizing the underwater flow area and length. The sequential quadratic programming algorithm is employed to identify the optimum design variables. Subsequently, based on optimized results, collision simulation is carried out, and a conical guiding device tailored for an underwater docking station is successfully designed. The proposed device can be used as an underwater docking station to recover UUVs for ocean exploration. The proposed device has a large tolerance capacity, minimal shrinkage state cross-sectional area and length, excellent hydrodynamic performance, and a high spatial utilization rate.