Transactions of Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics
Prototype Design and Performance Verification of a Movable Handrail for Extravehicular Activity of Astronaut
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Abstract:
In view of the problem that the extravehicular fixed handrail is difficult to meet astronaut’s complex extravehicular activity （EVA） needs， we propose a new design of movable handrail to benefit the EVA of astronauts. Specifically， we fully consider the hand force characteristics of astronauts in the pressurized spacesuit and design the parameters for geometric dimension and spring stiffness of each operating component in the movable handrail. In addition， in order to meet the needs of astronauts to operate the movable handrail with one hand during EVA， each operating component can be self-lock. Dynamics simulation analysis of each operating component is performed with ADAMS software. Simulation results show that operating components can be locked under appropriate operating force. We develop an engineering prototype of the extravehicular movable handrail based on the design and analysis result. Experimental verifications are carried out in terms of function， environment and ergonomics， which show that the proposed prototype can not only realize the clamping of the extravehicular fixed handrail but also freely adjust its own length and angle. In addition， the measured operating force is basically consistent with the theoretical value， and there is little change in the operating force before and after the force and thermal environment tests. All these experiments show that the proposed movable handrail has good adaptability to low-orbit environment of the space station.
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This work was supported by the CAST Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of China （No.R-WY-JQRC-19）. The authors would like to acknowledge the following people for their assistance： Dr. TAN Lifen and Mr. ZHAO Yang with the National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering， Astronaut Center Of China； Dr. LI Fangyong and Mr. GUO Wei with the National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Reliability and Environmental Engineering Technology， Beijing Institute of Spacecraft Environment Engineering.
Clc Number:
V467
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