Conceptual Design Of A Modular Morphing Wing

In this dissertation a new modular design method for morphing wings is presented. First, a design method was created, applying modularity and recon gurability to a morphing wing system. With modularity being a requirement for the morphing wing system, a discretization method is developed to determine the discrete number of modules required to perform a desired morphing maneuver. Then, a specialized, modular, recon gurable variable geometry truss mechanism is proposed to facilitate morphing. The specialized modular wing truss is a recon gurable, limited mobility parallel mechanism, adapted to t within the volume of a wing. The mobility of the wing truss module is analyzed via a branch-based mobility and connectivity analysis that imposes kinematic requirements on the truss mechanism. The mobility and connectivity requirements are used to perform an enumeration analysis to isolate candidate module con gurations for morphing. Then, a parametric kinematic constraint system is developed and applied to the wing module and the kinematic performance of the module is evaluated. The kinematics are applied to a mechanical prototype of the wing module for validation purposes. Finally, the kinematics are used to evaluate the motion response of a wing skin system to lay the foundation for detailed design.

Conceptual Design Of A Modular Morphing Wing

In this dissertation a new modular design method for morphing wings is presented. First, a design method was created, applying modularity and recon gurability to a morphing wing system. With modularity being a requirement for the morphing wing system, a discretization method is developed to determine the discrete number of modules required to perform a desired morphing maneuver. Then, a specialized, modular, recon gurable variable geometry truss mechanism is proposed to facilitate morphing. The specialized modular wing truss is a recon gurable, limited mobility parallel mechanism, adapted to t within the volume of a wing. The mobility of the wing truss module is analyzed via a branch-based mobility and connectivity analysis that imposes kinematic requirements on the truss mechanism. The mobility and connectivity requirements are used to perform an enumeration analysis to isolate candidate module con gurations for morphing. Then, a parametric kinematic constraint system is developed and applied to the wing module and the kinematic performance of the module is evaluated. The kinematics are applied to a mechanical prototype of the wing module for validation purposes. Finally, the kinematics are used to evaluate the motion response of a wing skin system to lay the foundation for detailed design.

Stability-based motion planning for a modular morphing wing

Aircraft wing geometry morphing is a technology that has seen recent interest due to demand for aircraft to improve aerodynamic performance for fuel saving. One proposed idea to alter wing geometry is by a modular morphing wing designed through a discretization method and constructed using variable geometry truss mechanisms (VGTM). For each morphing maneuver, there are sixteen possible actuation paths for each VGTM module, and thus offering a three module morphing wing to have a total of 16(to the power of 3) permutations of actuation paths for one morphing maneuver. Focused on longitudinal static stability, critical parameters and aircraft stability theory, this thesis proposes a method to find an optimal actuation path for a designated maneuver iteratively. A case study of a three module morphing wing demonstrated the actuation path selection process. Numerically, different actuation paths had different levels of longitudinal static stability; these paths were drawn in CATIA and were visually verified.

Stability-based motion planning for a modular morphing wing

Aircraft wing geometry morphing is a technology that has seen recent interest due to demand for aircraft to improve aerodynamic performance for fuel saving. One proposed idea to alter wing geometry is by a modular morphing wing designed through a discretization method and constructed using variable geometry truss mechanisms (VGTM). For each morphing maneuver, there are sixteen possible actuation paths for each VGTM module, and thus offering a three module morphing wing to have a total of 16(to the power of 3) permutations of actuation paths for one morphing maneuver. Focused on longitudinal static stability, critical parameters and aircraft stability theory, this thesis proposes a method to find an optimal actuation path for a designated maneuver iteratively. A case study of a three module morphing wing demonstrated the actuation path selection process. Numerically, different actuation paths had different levels of longitudinal static stability; these paths were drawn in CATIA and were visually verified.

Kinematic Modelling of a Panel Enclosed Mechanism

This thesis presents a new method for kinematic modeling and analysis of a six degree-of-freedom parallel robot enclosed by a number of sliding panels, called panel enclosed mechanism. This type of robots has been seen in applications where mechanisms are covered by changeable surfaces, such as aircraft morphing wings made of variable geometry truss manipulators. Based on the traditional parallel robot kinematics, the proposed method is developed to model the motions of a multiple segmented telescopic rigid panels that are attached to the moving branches of the mechanism. Through this modeling and analysis, a collision detection algorithm is proposed to analyze the collisions that could occur between adjacent sliding panels during motion over the workspace of the mechanism. This algorithm will help to design a set of permissible panels used to enclose the mechanism free of collision. A number of cases are simulated to show the effectiveness of the proposed method. In addition, an extra link is added to provide an additional degree-of-freedom. Various search methods are employed to evaluate optimal orientation angles to minimize collisions of adjacent panels. Finally, the effect of increased mobility is analyzed and validated as a potential solution to reduce panel collisions.

Kinematic Modelling of a Panel Enclosed Mechanism

This thesis presents a new method for kinematic modeling and analysis of a six degree-of-freedom parallel robot enclosed by a number of sliding panels, called panel enclosed mechanism. This type of robots has been seen in applications where mechanisms are covered by changeable surfaces, such as aircraft morphing wings made of variable geometry truss manipulators. Based on the traditional parallel robot kinematics, the proposed method is developed to model the motions of a multiple segmented telescopic rigid panels that are attached to the moving branches of the mechanism. Through this modeling and analysis, a collision detection algorithm is proposed to analyze the collisions that could occur between adjacent sliding panels during motion over the workspace of the mechanism. This algorithm will help to design a set of permissible panels used to enclose the mechanism free of collision. A number of cases are simulated to show the effectiveness of the proposed method. In addition, an extra link is added to provide an additional degree-of-freedom. Various search methods are employed to evaluate optimal orientation angles to minimize collisions of adjacent panels. Finally, the effect of increased mobility is analyzed and validated as a potential solution to reduce panel collisions.

Topological Reconfiguration Planning for a Variable Topology Truss

This paper introduces a new class of self-reconfigurable robot: the variable topology truss (VTT). An extension of an existing class of robots, the variable geometry truss (VGT), variable topology trusses have the additional capability to change the topology of the truss through self-reconfiguration by merging and splitting the nodes of the truss. We first introduce a hardware platform that enables this reconfigurability. We give a procedure to compute all possible distinct reconfiguration actions for a given robot topology. We show that 18 members are required for a minimal reconfigurable VTT and we exhaustively enumerate all possible reconfigurable topologies for VTTs up to 29 members. Lastly, we introduce the topology network, which describes the relationship between these reconfigurable topologies. The topology network concept enables some high-level planning and provides insights into the design of truss topologies.

Two Actuation Methods for a Complete Morphing System Composed of a VGTM and a Compliant Parallel Mechanism

Presented in this paper is a complete morphing system consisting of a variable geometry truss manipulator (VGTM) that is fully covered by a flexible panel skin. Two approaches are studied for morphing control. The first one is to have the VGTM act as a driving mechanism and the flexible panels as a passive system. In this case, the VGTM is composed of active members and passive lockable members. It is shown that the morphing system can reach the desired shapes through intermediate steps. The second method is to have the flexible panels act as drivers and the VGTM as a passive supporting structure. In this case, the VGTM is only composed of passive lockable members. The morphing system can also achieve the desired poses through intermediate steps. The control strategies of the two methods are discussed along with kinematic analysis, a comparison study is conducted to show their pros and cons, and two prototypes are fabricated to verify the feasibility of two actuation methods.

Design and Analysis of a Multi-Segment Shape Morphing Mechanism

This paper presents a novel design of a multi-segment shape morphing mechanism that combines a passive lockable reconfigurable variable geometry truss manipulator (VGTM) with an active parallel compliant mechanism. The structure of the VGTM is in a parallel-serial structure and its hyper-redundant degree-of-freedom (DOF) can be fully controlled by using two active flexible panels. This mechanism is suitable for aerospace applications that require light and compact structure with high load-carrying ability as well as achieve multiple DOFs for large scale shape deformation. To make shape morphing process simple and efficient, the mobility and topological configuration of the mechanism are analyzed first. Then, a control strategy combining the approximate motion mode and the exact motion mode is proposed. The kinematic models for different motion modes are established and solved analytically. It has been found that, under the exact motion mode, two approaches could be realized for the pose control under external loads for each segment. The one with the shorter moving path is selected in this paper. At last, a prototype was constructed to demonstrate the feasibility of this structure and verify the proposed kinematic model.