Presented in this paper is a method for analysis and control of an actuation-redundant parallel mechanism requiring synchronization. The said mechanism is made up of two branches that are connected to drive a common end-effector with only one degree-of-freedom of motion. The two actuators must share the load exerted on the common end-effector during motion. The underlying problem is to synchronize the motion of the two actuators while balancing the forces on them so that the entire mechanism can move smoothly under the applied load on the end-effector. Due to the space limitation, the two branches are geometrically different leading to opposite force profiles for the two actuators. The proposed method combines the mechanism kinematics with force analysis. First, a closed-form solution is derived that relates the actuator strokes to the rotation angle of the end-effector. Second, a velocity relationship is obtained to relate the actuator velocities to the angular velocity of the end-effector. Third, a force relationship is established relating the actuator loads to the external load. Fourth, a control strategy is designed to synchronize the motion of the two actuators while maintaining the force balance between them to avoid the problem of motion mismatching and force fighting that could lead to the failure of the mechanism. A prototype was built and tested with the proposed method, which is also presented in this paper.

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A loading mechanism for a variable cant angle morphing winglet is proposed in this paper. The mechanism provides a method of loading a morphing winglet with the simulated aerodynamic lift force by maintaining its application direction always orthogonal to the surface of the winglet throughout the range of motion. The loading mechanism is developed by type synthesis of four-bar linkages through enumeration of prismatic and revolute joints. The final design is a R-P-R-P four-bar linkage modified by merging the middle P-R joint together to form a planar joint named Shark-fin. The Shark-fin shape is optimized to minimize its weight effect on the overall loading system. A half-scale prototype was built as a reference to address several implementation issues including the neutral loading condition. Afterwards, a full-size dynamic loading mechanism was successfully constructed and implemented to load test a full-size morphing winglet

The premise of this work is to address aircraft seat comfort. This thesis presents the development of an automatic morphing backrest used to reduce pressure experienced by the passenger from the seat. Uncomfortable, high surface pressure zones on the backrest can be alleviated by decentralizing the occupant’s weight. The improved pressure distribution is intended to decrease discomfort during flight while taking different comfort/discomfort models into consideration. Pressure distribution data from the embedded sensor mat is used to compute the seat’s cushion deflection and corresponding backrest contour caused by the passenger’s weight. The surfaces of interest - the passenger’s back and the seat, are modelled and discretized. The discretized surface contact pressure is integrated into the hyperelastic contact model to determine the loading profile. From this, the current pressure distribution and the cushion’s surface change are computed and used in the control system to create the corresponding actuation of the surface.