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ACTA AERONAUTICAET ASTRONAUTICA SINICA ›› 2015, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (12): 3868-3875.doi: 10.7527/S1000-6893.2015.0040

• Solid Mechanics and Vehicle Conceptual Design • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Design and experiment of pleated isotensoid spacesuit soft joint

LIU Qilin, LIU Xiangyang, LI Meng   

  1. National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing 100094, China
  • Received:2014-12-30 Revised:2015-01-30 Online:2015-12-15 Published:2015-03-25
  • Supported by:

    National Level Project

Abstract:

Toward future exploration programs on planetary surface, the flexibility of spacesuit needs to be further enhanced by improving structure forms of spacesuit soft joint. According to the theory that isotensoid shape can carry interior pressure without circumferential stress, pleated isotensoid joint is designed by introducing wrinkles onto isotensoid surface along the circumferential direction. So this joint can be bent and stretched in the direction of circumference. To verify the performance of joint, measuring equipment of flexible unidirectional joints is applied to investigating joint torque characteristics by repeatedly loading and unloading with different ranges of motion. The joint geometry, capacity to remain constant volume and principal stress state are analyzed. Then comparison of this joint, smooth isotensoid joint and flat pattern joint is carried out. Finally the optimization metrics of joint are discussed. Results show that joint torque is relatively low and the maximum volume change is 1.6% in the testing range of 0° to 80°. The circumferential stress on isotensoid surface can be basically negligible when the joint is flexed. There are some differences between the first time loading and subsequent loading. However, different ranges of motion have no influence on joint mobility. It can be concluded that pleated isotensoid joint has certain advantages on geometry, motility patterns and mobility property over the other two types of joint. In addition, this joint can be further optimized in terms of structure and material.

Key words: spacesuit, joint, isotensoid, pleat, torque

CLC Number: