Vibration Control of a Flexible Space Manipultor During on Orbit Operations

Space manipulators are complex systems, composed by robotic arms accommodated on an orbiting platform. They can be used to perform a variety of tasks: launch of satellites, retrieval of spacecraft for inspection, maintenance and repair, movement of cargo and so on. Accurate assembly operations, the risk of potentially destructive collisions, and the extraordinary environment require extreme precision. However, in order to respect the mass at launch requirements, manipulators arms are usually very light and flexible, and their motion involves significant structural vibrations, especially after a grasping maneuver. In order to fulfill the maneuvers of space robotic systems it is hence necessary to properly model all the forces acting on the space robot, including the orbital motion, gravity gradient, aerodynamic etc. as well as flexibility of the links and of the joints. The case is furthermore complicated by the fact that the manipulator, together with its supporting spacecraft, is an unconstrained body. Therefore the motion of any of its parts affects the entire system configuration. The governing equations of the dynamics of such robotic systems are highly nonlinear and fully coupled. The present paper aims at designing and studying active damping strategies and relevant devices that could be used to reduce the structural vibrations of a space manipulator with flexible links during its on orbit. In particular an optimized adaptive vibration control via piezoelectric devices is proposed. The number of piezoelectric devices, their placement and operational mode should be correctly chosen in order to obtain maximum performance in terms of elastic oscillations reduction and power consumption. Even though an optimal placement cannot have a universal validity, since it depends on the type of maneuver and on the overall inertial and geometrical characteristics, an approach to solve the problem is proposed.