Intelligent Self-levelling Platform for Missile Articulation

Abstract

This study aims to design a self-levelling platform loaded with a missile that is articulated from 0° to 90°. The platform is not situated rigidly on the ground, but it is placed on a railway track. This creates an unbalanced condition for the platform during the missile articulation because the railway guides are not rigid and act as springs. Consequently, the objective of study was to keep the platform in a steady condition at a particular plane at all times, irrespective of the change in load with respect to position and time. A prototype was designed on CATIA V5 software and tested by using Arduino IDE which replicates the original system on a small scale. The effect of railway track was created by using springs of various stiffness coefficients. The model was manufactured and the balancing of the platform was done using linear actuators coupled with an electronic control system with a feedback mechanism. The accelerometer was used to sense the angular variation in X and Y axes along the reference plane. The electro-mechanical linear actuators were used to nullify the unbalance and hence the levelling was achieved. The various tests were performed on the prototype with variable ground conditions using different combinations of springs to validate the balancing principle. It reveals that the levelling was successful with all combinations for any unbalanced ground condition.