Comprehensive evaluation and design analysis of the folded suspension of rocker-bogie exploration rover

A suspension is a part connecting body and wheels of an exploration rover, which has influence obviously on the volume of the exploration rover. To reduce the occupied space of the rover in the lander, the suspension is designed folded. Deployment characteristics and design requirements of the folded suspension is summarized. Based on the same configuration, four schemes are presented, and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation is carried out, an optimal configuration is determined. A folded suspension by spring driving is designed, and finite element analysis of folded and deployed suspension is completed, results indicate that both the stiffness and the intensity satisfy the requirements. Finally, dynamics simulation analysis of suspension deployment process is accomplished, vertical acceleration and velocity curves of mass center of body are obtained, results show that the vertical acceleration of mass center of body can be decreased by some improvement measures.