Design And Analysis Of Latching Device For The End-effector Of Space Manipulator

With the development of spacecraft engineering, more and more tasks need to be performed in orbit,such as construction and maintenance of large space facilities, handling of experiment samples in the space station laboratory, supply and recovery of consumable and equipment to/from the space station, inspection and repair of malfunctioned satellites.Some of these tasks are currently performed by astronauts through IVA(Intra-Vehicular-Activity) and EVA (Extra-Vehicular-Activity).However, it is not realistic to think that a single or standardized space robot can perform these tasks. Therefore many end-effectors are developed for individual tasks. It is realistic to design the space robot such that the robot can attach tools which fit for individual tasks.The article finished the design and analysis of latch device of end-effector for one space manipulator.The latch device of end-effector is used to achieve grab and transmit the information of payload through the electronic connectors.Firstly, the article refer to the design philosophy of traditional latch device of end-effector, comeplete the design scheme and structure of latch device for the end-effector, which is carried out base on statics by rules of light,high strenght,little energy and high stability for space product and the specific demand of the designated end-effector.Secondly, the article make use of Virtual prototype dynamics simulation software COSMOSMotion to simulate the working process of latch device of end-effector, and verify viability of the latch device of end-effector payload grab as well as the splice of electronic connectors.It is verified that the latch device of end-effector can survive successfully under all kinds of circumstances in the stage of transport and launch by the dynamic analysis,and the reliability is also verified.