The Research Of Six-Axis Stewart Force/torque Sensor

Sensor technology is one important part of mechatronics technologies, it is the middle link of the combination of mechanic, electron, and computer, also it is the key link of automatic control. The Six-Axis Stewart force/torque sensor is one kind of sensor, which can be used to measure three-axis force (X, Y, Z) and three-axis torque (M_x, M_y,M_x) in the geometric space. It has been widely used in robots, simulation for space station docking, thrust force test for rocket's motor and experiment for the generalized force control and so on. All those due to its several potential advantages, including high loading capability for its parallels structures, high-accuracy for its error will not be accumulated, and its rich information of force testing.This paper gives a comprehensive research on the Six-Axis Stewart force/torque sensor's measurement mechanism and its calibration system. The main research could be divided into several chapters, such as following:In chapter 1, the history and current research on sensor at home and broad are summarized. Then the Six-Axis force sensor's current research and its application are analyzed as a major part. At last, the main contents and requirements for this research are proposed, which based on the project Sponsored by National Natural Science foundation of China.In chapter 2, the measurement mechanism of Six-Axis Stewart force/torque sensor is analyzed profoundly. Then, its structural parameters are optimized; its 3D model and detail parts are designed according to its requirements of the design. At last, all factors that affect the measurement accuracy of the sensor are analyzed, and then followed the conclusion that the impaction on the sensor's measurement accuracy is mainly caused by the joint levers' gap and the rigidity of all parts, also followed that the experimental calibration of sensor is one important meathead to improve the sensor's measurement accuracy.In chapter 3, the calibration system of Six-Axis Stewart force/torque sensor has been analyzed, and the designing for its hardware and software is also researched. Since there are few of calibration device for multi-axis force sensor at present, in this paper, the calibration system has been designed, and a multifunction calibration device for multi-axis force sensor has been developed independently based on the characteristic of the sensor, the system software of calibration is also developed. The result justify this calibration device is feasible on multi-axis force sensor's calibration, and it has some unique characteristics as simple structure, convenience of operation, high loading accuracy and so on.