Drive System Sizing of a 6-DOF Parallel Robotic Platform

Abstract

In this work, it is considered a 6-DoF robotic device intended to be applied for hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) motion simulation with wind tunnel models. The requirements have led to a 6-PUS parallel robot whose linkages consist of six closed-loop kinematic chains, connecting the fixed base to the mobile platform with the same sequence of joints: actuated Prism (P), Universal (U), and Spherical (S). As is common for parallel kinematic manipulators (PKMs), the actual performances of the robot depend greatly on its dimensions. Therefore, a kinematic synthesis has been performed and several Pareto-optimal solutions have been obtained through a multi-objective optimization of the machine geometric parameters, using a genetic algorithm. In this paper, the inverse dynamic analysis of the robot is presented. Then, the results are used for the mechanical sizing of the drive system, comparing belt- to screw-driven units and selecting the motor-reducer groups. Finally, the best compromise Pareto-optimal solution is definitely chosen.