Design And Experimental Testing Of Hierarchical Interlocking Bio-inspired Adhesion Capturing Mechanism

The technology of on-orbit capture and manipulating of non-cooperative targets is an important technology of manned space flight.The issue of space debris is one of the existing problems needs to be solved urgently.With the limitations of rigid on-orbit capture based on space manipulators,the adhesion of Gekko gecko provides a new way to solve the problem,i.e.,the adhesion capture.In order to verify the feasibility of space adhesion capture and explore the application of biomimetic adhesion materials in the space field,the following work was carried out in this paper.1.The behavior of attachment and detachment and the moving trail of interlocking adhesion of gecko in the vertical surface were researched.In combination with the biological structure of gecko,the Interlocking Biomimetic Adhesion Capturing Mechanism was designed,mainly including the body plate,the flexible drive structure,bio-inspired foot(claw)structure.The initial driving and working mood was programmed and a prototype of the bionic space adhesion capture mechanism was made.2.In order to maximize the adhesion force of the adhesion unit under a certain perforce,the key parameters were optimized.A double mass spring damping model of the capturing mechanism under actual impact load was established.The collision and adhesion behavior and mechanism of the capture mechanism were preliminarily analyzed,providing guidance for the parameters and indicators of further experimental research programs.3.Under the simulated microgravity environment provided by an air floatation platform,the impact-adhesion behavior and contact forces were recorded and measured under different conditions,i.e.,the impact velocities,the impact angles and the density of flocculent array adhesives.The detachment forces,adhesion toes and the adhesive safety margin were used or defined to evaluate the performance of the bio-inspired adhesion capturing mechanism,that is,the boundary threshold working parameters and the optimal working parameters.These results would experimentally instruct the application of the adhesion capture mechanism.