A study on clearance effects on dynamic responses of robot manipulator

Clearances caused by assemblage, manufacturing errors and wear, affect inevitably the dynamic responses of mechanisms such as robot manipulator. In this study, the effects of clearance on a robot manipulator system are investigated numerically. The contact behavior along normal and tangential direction of clearance joint is described by a nonlinear contact force model and a modified Coulomb friction model respectively. Then, the dynamics equations of the robot manipulator system are established considering joint clearance. In order to investigate the effects of clearance on dynamic performances of practical mechanism, a planar robot manipulator system on a spacecraft system with a revolute clearance joint is used as the apply example. Four case studies for various clearance sizes are implemented to investigate and discuss the effects of joint clearance. The simulation results indicate that clearance joints have severe effects on the dynamic performances of mechanism system and the impact in clearance joints represented by contact force models must be considered in dynamics analysis and design of mechanism system. The simulation results in this work can predict the effects of clearance on robot manipulator system preferably and it is the basis of precision analysis, robust control system design of robot manipulator system.