Design and Tolerance Analysis of an Androgynous Petal-Shaped End Tool Quick-Change Mechanism for Space Manipulator

In order to improve the flexible operation of the end of space manipulators and adapt to the complex operation requirements on-orbit, a quick-change mechanism for end tools using a androgynous petal-shaped docking surface is designed. This mechanism allows the manipulator to swiftly replace end tools, thereby enhancing its operation efficiency on orbit. In this paper, based on the concept of androgynous design, a petal-shaped docking surface is constructed by combining the advantages of the probe-cone docking mechanism and the V-groove positioning mechanism. The petal-shaped docking surface is used for the active end and passive interface of the end tool quick-change mechanism to fulfill the demands of on-orbit maintenance tasks for a space manipulator. This design improvement significantly enhances misalignment tolerance and positioning accuracy performance. Moreover, this paper proposes a misalignment tolerance analysis method based on the position and posture perturbation matrix method. It analyzes the performance of the end quick-change mechanism with a 5-degree freedom misalignment tolerance. Through ADAMS docking dynamics simulation tests and prototype physical experiments, the accuracy of the perturbation matrix analysis results is verified. It has been determined that the androgynous petal-shaped end tool quick-change mechanism designed in this paper meets the misalignment tolerance index of the on-orbit maintenance tasks.