Research and Application of Heavy-Equipment Parachute Rope Tension Sensor

Min Yao,Yanhua Jin,Min Zhao,Shaohua Xu

doi:10.1155/2018/7631727

Abstract

Heavy-equipment airdrops are mainly used to deliver relief supplies and heavy weapons. Given the heavy weight of the goods, the tension of the extraction and brake ropes of the parachute significantly affects the safety of the aircraft. On the basis of the measurement and installation characteristics of the parachute rope, this study designed the structure of a nondestructive pressure-type parachute rope tension sensor and set the location of the strain gauge patch using the ANSYS simulation software to obtain a high sensor sensitivity. The temperature error of the tension sensor is compensated, and the precision is improved using the LSSVM-PSO (Least Squares Support Vector Machine-Particle Swarm Optimization) algorithm. The developed tension sensor is applied to the extraction parachute test system to measure the traction of 2 and 8 m2 parachutes. Test results show that the maximum weight of the platform these two parachutes can draw and the effect of parachute opening can be calculated.

Highlights

In recent years, large transport aircrafts have rapidly developed, improving the conditions for heavy-equipment airdrops and increasing the demands on the airdrop system [1,2,3]
The tension sensors for parachute ropes of heavyequipment airdrop systems may have the same structure as the tension sensors for vehicle safety belts, such as the EL20-S458 sensor produced by U.S MEAS and LBT-A20KNSA1 produced by KYOWA
This study designs a triaxial side-pressure tension sensor with a wide range that can be installed to measure the parachute tension of airdrop equipment in real time

Summary

Introduction

Large transport aircrafts have rapidly developed, improving the conditions for heavy-equipment airdrops and increasing the demands on the airdrop system [1,2,3]. The tension of the parachute rope during the operation of the parachute is closely related to the platform and the smooth flight of the transport aircraft Such large tension sensors for parachute ropes of heavy-equipment airdrop systems are rarely reported. Zhao et al from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics designed the surface acoustic wave tension sensor for parafoils in 2017 [6] This sensor has good linearity and repeatability. The tension sensors for parachute ropes of heavyequipment airdrop systems may have the same structure as the tension sensors for vehicle safety belts, such as the EL20-S458 sensor produced by U.S MEAS and LBT-A20KNSA1 produced by KYOWA. Hold-down nut Figure 1: Structure of the tension sensor

Force Analysis and Structure Design

Temperature Error Compensation

Traction Test for Heavy-Equipment Airdrop Extraction Parachute

Conclusion