Chrome Extension
WeChat Mini Program
Use on ChatGLM

Design and Analysis of a Novel Floating Docking Mechanism for On-Orbit Refueling

Zhicheng Sun,Shipeng Li,Huan Zhang, Haiming Lei,Xiaodong Song

AEROSPACE(2022)

Cited 1|Views8
No score
Abstract
The docking mechanism is a key component for on-orbit refueling technology. In this paper, the design and analysis of a novel floating docking mechanism for on-orbit berthing-based refueling is presented. Compared with traditional berthing and docking, the berthing here is high in success rate and low in impact, which is accomplished by stretching out a docking subassembly instead of pulling back the client spacecraft. However, the berthing also has two problems: initial deviations between two spacecraft and an additional force generated by a hard alloy refueling pipe, which both seriously affect the docking operation. Thus, the docking mechanism is designed to have alignment abilities and decrease the additional force as much as possible. Based on the principles above, we introduced spring pins and a helical refueling pipe to design a light, compact, and simple docking mechanism. To further reduce the additional force, we proposed an elliptical-helical pipe and analyzed its mechanical properties. Finally, simulations and experiments were conducted to validate the proposed mechanism. The results show that the proposed mechanism with an elliptical-helical pipe has a high tolerance for linear and angular misalignment and superior dynamic performance during docking.
More
Translated text
Key words
floating docking mechanism,dynamic analysis,elliptical-helical pipe,on-orbit refueling,berthing
AI Read Science
Must-Reading Tree
Example
Generate MRT to find the research sequence of this paper
Chat Paper
Summary is being generated by the instructions you defined