MR damping design of the drive joints of the lunar-based extravehicular spacesuit booster mechanism

Abstract

Considering the special walking behavior of astronauts on the lunar surface, to reduce the impact on their bones and improve safety during extravehicular operations and walking, a magnetorheological(MR)damping mechanism of power assisted transmission joint used in a new type spacesuit is proposed. In order to improve the damping performance of the MR damper, the influence of the damper’s structural parameters on both the output and dynamic adjustable range of the damping torque is examined. According to the theoretical mechanical model, the output damping torque is calculated, the finite element method is used to conduct numerical tests. At the same time, the structural parameters of the damper are optimized by the response surface methods. The results indicate that the simulated torque aligns with the theoretically designed torque, and the damping characteristics of the optimized structure are effectively improved by the response surface method. Compared with the initial structure, the damping torque is increased by 10.8%, and the dynamic adjustable range is expanded by 52.9%.

Keywords

extravehicular spacesuit / magnetorheological / flexible transmission / damping characteristics

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Funding

The Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai(20ZR1401300)