Design methodology, synthesis, and control strategy of the high-speed planetary rover

doi:10.1007/s11465-024-0783-5

Front. Mech. Eng.

2024, Vol. 19

Issue (2) : 12 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11465-024-0783-5

Design methodology, synthesis, and control strategy of the high-speed planetary rover

Renchao LU, Haibo GAO, Zhen LIU(

), Runze YUAN, Zongquan DENG

State Key Laboratory of Robotics and Systems, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China

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Abstract

The planned missions to explore the surfaces of the Moon and Mars require high exploration efficiency, thus imposing new demands on the mobility system of planetary rovers. In this paper, a design method for a high-speed planetary rover (HPR) is proposed, and the representative configurations are modeled and simulated. First, the influence of the planetary surface environment on the design of HPRs is analyzed, and the design factors for HPRs are determined by studying a single-wheel suspension. Second, a design methodology for HPRs is proposed. The adaptive suspension mechanisms of a four-wheeled rover are synthesized using the all-wheel-attachment condition and position and orientation characteristics theory, which are expressed in the form of a graph theory for the increase in elastic components and active joints. Finally, a dynamic model is built, and a simulation is carried out for the proposed rover. The validity of the proposed method and rover is verified, thus highlighting their potential application in future planetary exploration.

Keywords design methodology spectrum analysis high-speed planetary rover type synthesis

Corresponding Author(s): Zhen LIU

About author:

#usheng Xing, Yannan Jian and Xiaodan Zhao contributed equally to this work.]]>

Just Accepted Date: 12 January 2024 Issue Date: 30 May 2024

Cite this article:

Renchao LU,Haibo GAO,Zhen LIU, et al. Design methodology, synthesis, and control strategy of the high-speed planetary rover[J]. Front. Mech. Eng., 2024, 19(2): 12.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fme/EN/10.1007/s11465-024-0783-5
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fme/EN/Y2024/V19/I2/12

Fig.1 PSD of smooth mare. PSD: power spectrum density.

Fig.2 Magnitude of ground input.

Fig.3 Magnitude of ground acceleration excitation on the same road: ground acceleration excitation at a speed of (a) 0.05 and (b) 2 m/s.

Fig.4 Model of a single-wheel suspension: (a) rigid suspension, (b) soft suspension, and (c) parallel active suspension.

Fig.5 Amplitude–frequency characteristics of the three suspensions.

Fig.6 The form of arrangement for connected points: (a) left–right symmetrical distribution, (b) anterior–posterior symmetrical distribution, and (c) diagonal distribution. A: movable connections; F: fixed connections.

Fig.7 Suspension type synthesis process based on single open chain (SOC) units. DOF: degree of freedom; HPR: high-speed planetary rover; SLC: single loop chain.

Tab.1 Topological structures of single-loop mechanisms

Tab.2 Topological structures of two-loop mechanisms

Tab.3 Topological structures of three-loop mechanisms

Tab.4 Topological structures of four-loop mechanisms

Tab.5 Topological structures of five-loop mechanisms

Fig.8 (a–d) Addition of the spring damper and active joint for the adaptive suspension of two loops.

Fig.9 (a–d) Addition of the spring damper and active joint for the adaptive suspension of four loops.

Fig.10 (a–d) Addition of the spring damper and active joint for the adaptive suspension of five loops.

Fig.11 Proposed four-loop high-speed planetary rover: (a) mechanism schematic diagram and (b) 3D conceptual graph.

Parameter	Symbol	Value	Unit
Mass of body	m_s	100	kg
Mass of wheel	m_w	4	kg
Pitch inertia of body	$I φ$	12	$kg ? m 2$
Roll inertia of body	$I θ$	15	$kg ? m 2$
Stiffness of spring	$k s$	16800	N·m
Damping of damper	$c s$	1680	N·m/s
Half of wheel-track	B	0.53	m
Half of distance of ipsilateral swing arm	$l 1$	0.2	m
Initial angle of the swing arm	$β$	10	degree
Length of swing arm	$l 2$	0.4	m
Velocity of rover	U	5	km/h
Radius of wheel	R	0.2	m
Linkage ratio	r₀	4
Static friction coefficient	$μ s$	0.25
Dynamic friction coefficient	$μ d$	0.15

Tab.6 Physical and simulation parameters

Fig.12 ISO Class E type of road profiles: (a) left side front and rear wheels; (b) right side front and rear wheels.

Fig.13 Acceleration responses of rovers: (a) vertical acceleration, (b) pitch acceleration, (c) roll acceleration, and (d) root mean square value.

Fig.14 Load comparison of the four wheels: (a) front left wheel, (b) front right wheel, (c) rear left wheel, and (d) rear right wheel.

Fig.15 Control torque of four wheels: (a) front and (b) rear wheels.

Fig.16 (a) The input of cross-axis and (b) change of single wheel pressure.

Abbreviations
DOF	Degree of freedom
ESM	Electronic supplementary material
HPR	High-speed planetary rover
POC	Position and orientation characteristics
SLC	Single loop chain
SOC	Single open chain
Variables
A_i (k)	k wheels connected to the base through i DOFs
A_k	Amplitude of the cosine wave
B	Half of wheel track
C_j	j constraints between t movable connections
f	Amplitude–frequency characteristic
f_i	DOF of every joint
f_s (ω), f_u (ω)	Fourier transforms of active force at about x_s and x_u
f_z, f_φ, f_θ	Amplitude frequency characteristics of vertical acceleration, pitch acceleration, and roll acceleration
F	System DOF
F_a	Active force of suspension
F_i	Partial DOF
F_p, F_a	Expressions of ground input and active force
g	Gravitational constant
G (n_k)	Power spectral density function
H (jω)	Frequency response function
I_φ, I_θ, I_γ	Pitch, roll inertia of the rover, and inertia of synchronization-link
k_pz, k_pφ, k_pθ	Coefficient of proportional control
k_s, c_s	Stiffness and damping of soft suspension
k_t	Stiffness of the wheel
l₁	Half of distance of the ipsilateral swing arm
l₂	Length of the swing arm
m	Number of joints
m_s	Sprung mass
m_w	Mass of the wheel
M	Number of DOFs of suspension
M_bi	POC set of the ith branch
M_v, C_v, K_v	Coefficient matrices of mass, damping, and kiffness
n	Number of components
n_k	Frequency within the interval [n_min, n_max]
n_max	Maximum of the frequency
n_min	Minimum of the frequency
N	Number of wheels
N_c	Contact force in single suspension
N_i (i = 1,2,3,4)	Contact force of four wheels
p	Number of terms used to build up the road surface
r₀	Linkage ratio
r (x)	Road surface roughness
$r ¨ (t)$	Acceleration excitation of the ground
R	Radius of wheel
u	Speed of rover
U	Velocity of rover
v	Independent loops
x	Global coordinate measured from the left end of a stretch
x	Vector representing the generalized coordinates of the system
x_r, x_u, x_s	Vertical displacement of road, wheel, and sprung mass
$x wfl, x wfr, x wrl, x wrr$ , $x ˙ wfl, x ˙ wfr, x ˙ wrl, x ˙ wrr$	Displacement input and velocity input of the road at four wheels
$x ¨ w 1, x ¨ w 2, x ¨ w 3, x ¨ w 4$	Acceleration of four wheels
z, φ, θ	Vertical displacement, pitch, and roll of the body
γ	Angle of the synchronization-link
α_i (i = 1,2,3,4)	Angle of the swing arm
β	Initial angle of the swing arm
θ_k	Random phase angle with uniform probability
ω₀	Natural frequency of system
ω_z, ω_φ, ω_θ, ω_γ	Natural frequency of heave, pitch, roll, and warp
τ	Time delay
τ_i (i = 1,2,3,4)	Active force of joints
μ_d	Dynamic friction coefficient
μ_s	Static friction coefficient
$ξ L i$	Independent motion equation number
$ξ L j ′$	Independent motion equation number of the jth independent SOC
$ξ z, ξ φ, ξ θ, ξ γ$	Damping ratio of heave, pitch, roll, and warp

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