颗粒阻塞变刚度可折叠柔性臂设计

Design of Foldable Flexible Arm with Variable Stiffness Based on Particle Blocking Principle

针对折纸结构存在的刚度恒定不变及刚度不足难题,基于折纸结构和颗粒阻塞原理,笔者提出一种质量小、惯量低、刚度调节范围宽、空间折展比大、制作成本低的变刚度可折叠柔性操作臂。首先,设计了由多个折叠柔性单元串联而成的折叠柔性臂的三维结构方案;提出基于颗粒阻塞原理的折叠柔性臂的刚度调节方法,完成了柔性臂变刚度系统方案设计;提出电机驱动、绳索传动的折叠柔性臂驱动方案,以实现柔性臂的位姿变换;最后,完成变刚度折叠柔性臂的样机制作和弯曲变形实验、刚度测试实验测试。样机实验测试结果表明:所提出颗粒阻塞变刚度可折叠柔性臂的弯曲实验结果与运动学模型、刚度模型的理论计算结果较为一致,验证了该变刚度柔性臂的设计方案的正确性。

Aiming at the problems of constant and insufficient stiffness in origami structure,based on origami structure and particle blocking principle,a foldable flexible manipulator with variable stiffness with light weight,low inertia,wide stiffness adjustment range,large space folding ratio and low production cost was proposed.Firstly,the three⁃dimensional structure scheme of the folded flexible arm,which consisted of multiple folded flexible elements in series,was designed.The stiffness adjustment method of the folded flexible arm based on the principle of particle blocking was proposed,and the variable stiffness system design of the flexible arm was completed.A folding flexible arm drive scheme with motor drive and rope drive was proposed to realize the pose transformation of the flexible arm.Finally,the prototype,bending deformation experiment and stiffness test of the flexible arm were completed.The experimental results of the prototype show that the bending experimental results of the designed variable stiffness flexible arm with particle blocking are consistent with the theoretical calculation results of the kinematic model and the stiffness model,which verifies the feasibility of the design scheme of the flexible arm with variable stiffness.