Winch Design of a Cable-Driven Parallel Robot for Satellite Proximity Operations
The Spacecraft Platform Actuated by Cables for Experiments with Simulated Motion (SPACESiM) project aims to provide a robust, low-cost testing solution for spacecraft rendezvous and proximity operations. This design uses a Cable-Driven Parallel Robot (CDPR), which is a system of motorized winches pulling on cables with variable tension to move a simulated payload in a controllable, precise manner. However, the current method of winch design results in cable tensions being affected by the dimensions of the winch, impacting the robot’s precision. By adapting a design derived from IPANema 3 (Kraus, 2015) to a room with complex geometrical constraints on the winch placement, the SPACESiM robot can impart forces on its payload without significant interference due to winch geometry, effectively increasing positioning precision. Whereas typical winch designs see a cable tension loss inversely related to the cosine of the cable exit angle, the new SPACESiM design ensures virtually no cable tension losses due to the geometry of the winch. Proximity operations simulation using CDPRs can therefore be improved using this new design, affording organizations greater simulation precision in exchange for a small increase in manufacturing complexity.