Integrate and Optimized Design of a Hydraulic Underwater Manipulator

Abstract

Underwater manipulator as efficient tools plays important roles in ocean exploitation. Because of its specificity for underwater operations, the structure of an underwater manipulator should be designed compactly with light weight and small size. Structure of a 7-function underwater manipulator is designed here. Except forearm rotation and wrist rotation which use hydraulic motors, other functions are driven by hydraulic cylinders, whose parameters are determined by force analysis and limit positions. The hydraulic pipelines from the elbow joint to the end are passed through the forearm, and the hydraulic cylinder of the jaw is integrated into the wrist motor. Built-in pipelines are achieved in the designed structure and the whole weight and volume are greatly reduced by integrated and optimized design.

Experiment research on control performance for the actuators of a deep-sea hydraulic manipulator

“…Hydraulic manipulator, a typical underwater operation tool, have a large load, meanwhile, can be installed on remotelyoperated vehicles or human occupied vehicles and consequently place a large workload burden on the human operator [3,4]. Some industrial companies such as Schilling Robotics [5], Hydro-Lek [6] and ISE [7], have already realized deep-sea hydraulic manipulator productization, the normally designed depth rating is 6000 meters or less.…”

Design and experiments of a deep-sea five-function electric manipulator system

“…Underwater manipulator is one of necessary tools for the underwater vehicles while operating, and it can be divided into hydraulic manipulator and electric manipulator according to the driving mode. Hydraulic manipulator has a large load and it has been widely used for performing underwater tasks [1]. The electric manipulator, unlike the classical hydraulic manipulator that needs a complex and large support system, is actuated by electromechanical components to meet light weight, small volume, low power requirements and higher accuracy used for small and medium-sized underwater vehicle [2].…”