A novel six degrees-of-freedom parallel manipulator for aircraft fuselage assemble and its trajectory planning

Abstract

Parallel manipulators have been successfully used for pose adjustment. However, aircraft fuselages are heavy and have complex shapes, so the existing parallel manipulators are not suitable for aircraft fuselages. For the first time, this paper presents a novel six degrees of freedom parallel manipulator for aircraft fuselages. Compared with other parallel manipulators, the presented parallel manipulator is suitable for large round parts. The Jacobi matrix of the presented parallel manipulator is derived, which is expressed by roll, pitch, and yaw. Using the derived Jacobi matrix, inverse kinematics of the presented parallel manipulator is investigated systemically. Combining Newton’s second law with Euler equations, dynamic equations of the manipulator are derived. Using the derived dynamic equations, inverse dynamics of the manipulator are also investigated systemically. For improving safety and efficiency of fuselage pose adjustment, a new trajectory planning algorithm is proposed which is based on the minimum mean force. Simulation experiment results demonstrated the ability of the trajectory planning algorithm to achieve stable movement comparable to the time-optimal trajectory planning algorithm. At the conclusion of this paper, practical applications of the presented parallel manipulator are shown.

Keywords:

• aircraft assemble
• fuselage
• parallel manipulator
• pose adjustment
• trajectory planning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number E51205201]; National Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province [grant number 20142BAB206023]; Technology R&D Programs of Jiangxi Province [grant number 20133BBE50022], [grant number 20143ACE50008].