Maneuver Based Design of Passive Assist Devices for Active Joints.

[摘要] This thesis describes a novel, general methodology for designing a Passive Assist Device (PAD) (e.g., spring) to augment an actuated system using optimization based on a known maneuver of the active system. Implementationof the PAD can result in an improvement in system performance with respect to efficiency, reliability, and/or safety. The methodology is experimentally demonstrated with a parallel, torsional spring designed to minimize energy consumption of a prototypical, single link UGV robot arm. The method is extended to series systems as well as dual PAD systems that contain both a series and a parallel component. We show that the proposed method is not limited to robot manipulator joints, can be applied to multi-DOF systems, and can be used to design PADs that are robust against variation in the maneuver.Furthermore, for certain situations a significant increase in performance can be realized if the maneuver is redesigned considering that a PAD will be added to the system. The addition of properly designed energy minimizing springs can lead to a decrease in energy consumption, as shown in various engineering examples, by as much as 60-80% while also improving reliability and/or safety.

[发布机构] University of Michigan

[效力级别] Passive Assist Devices

[关键词] Maneuver Based Design;Passive Assist Devices;Mechatronics;Optimization;Mechanical Engineering;Engineering;Mechanical Engineering