A novel large stroke, heavy duty, high response (2P(nR)+PPR)P actuator mechanism for parallel wave motion simulator platform

Wave motion simulators have various applications in the development of marine industrial products. The main factor limiting its performance to meet the needs for extreme sea states simulation is the lack of large stroke, heavy duty, and high response actuators. Therefore, a novel actuator mechanism is proposed in this paper to realize the dynamic output of large stroke, heavy duty and high response. In this paper, a (2P(nR)+PPR)P actuator mechanism composed of 2P(nR)P and PPRP mechanisms is proposed, with the input-output relationship analyzed. Then, this actuator mechanism is applied to a 6-PUS platform. The Newton-Euler method is employed to model and simulate the dynamics of the platform to verify the input-output relationships. Finally, a 6-PUS platform based on (2P(nR)+PPR)P mechanism was designed, built and tested under extreme operating conditions. The results show that the 6-PUS platform with this actuator mechanism can achieve a large stroke of ±45° within 7 s cycle time and a high response motion of ±30° within 3 s under a heavy duty of 10t, which demonstrates that it has the performance of large stroke, heavy duty and high response. This actuator mechanism and its platform are of significant value in wave motion simulators for extreme sea states.