KINEMATICS ANALYSIS OF A 3-DOF HYDRAULIC SPHERICAL MOTION ACTUATOR

Spherical motion actuators are increasingly applied in the field of manipulators. A novel 3-DOF hydraulic spherical motion actuator (HSMA) accomplishing a spherical motion in only one joint is proposed. In the aerospace field, the proposed HSMA that is mainly composed of a full cycle spin motor, ball-like rotor swing motor and rudder blade swing motor can be applied to simulation and test turntable. First, the structure and working principle of the HSMA is described. Second, forward and inverse kinematics models are derived using the Euler transformation. Then, some factors having an impact on motion performance, workspace, dexterity and performance index of inertial force, are evaluated. Finally, simulations performed by ADAMS are completed to verify the feasibility of the architecture and the correctness of the kinematics modelling.