Education and demonstration – Vehicle operator instruction or testing – Flight vehicle
Patent
1997-04-07
1998-11-03
Hirsch, Paul J.
Education and demonstration
Vehicle operator instruction or testing
Flight vehicle
434 38, 434 46, 434 55, G09B 914
Patent
active
058299823
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a method of manufacturing a motion simulator having a deck and a number of deck-supporting legs pivotally connected with the deck in first pivot points, the legs being actively and continuously length-adjustable, such that the deck is capable of describing a motion envelope comprising all desired deck positions.
Motion simulators are used for simulating motions, in particular vehicle motions such as, for instance, those of aircraft, boats, trains and automobiles. Such motion simulators include a deck that is movably arranged on a number of legs. The deck can be moved within a motion envelope by changing the lengths of the legs. The motion envelope is defined by the extreme positions that can be assumed by the deck.
The deck is a flat plate, stiffened by means of a bearing beam construction. Via the beam construction, the legs are attached to the bottom side of the plate by means of pivot points. A simulation environment is built up on the top side of the deck. In this manner, during the motions of the deck, the legs remain unobstructed by any part of the part of the simulator supported by the legs. The simulation environment comprises, for instance, a cockpit of an aircraft or other vehicle, reproduced on the deck. Outside the reproduced cockpit, on the deck, means are provided for presenting a simulated environment. On the deck are further built, inter alia, an instructor's cabin, control and information control means, conditioning means for the atmosphere in the simulator, and a casing which guards the part of the simulator that is supported by the legs.
Since the deck is a flat, beam-stiffened plate construction, the advantage is achieved that the deck is relatively inexpensive and that, moreover, almost any simulation environment can be reproduced on the deck. However, this known simulator has the drawback that the deck with the simulation environment built thereon is heavy and has only a limited specific stiffnesses. An increase of the stiffnesses results in an increased weight of the construction.
Since the moving part of the simulator is heavy, strong moving means of rugged construction are necessary for the legs. Consequently, the response time of the simulator, i.e., the delay time between the provision of a control signal and the reaction of the simulator thereto, becomes unacceptably high, the more so because the high weight of the simulator causes a great inertia. These high response times, which are typically at 150 milliseconds (msec) and more, cause the simulated behavior of the vehicle to become unnatural, in particular when simulating vehicles that in reality have a very short response time, such as for instance vehicles on wheels, aircraft and the like. This results in a less effective simulation and, moreover, the operator can be adversely influenced, for instance through the occurrence of motion sickness. In principle, these high response times can at least partly be compensated through anticipation, but this is only possible for vehicle and environment characteristic input signals, not for signals inputted by the operator. Moreover, this is complicated from the viewpoint of control engineering and hence costly. A high weight of the moving part of the simulator further has an adverse effect on the natural frequency and damping of the motion simulator and on the influence of interference signals. Moreover, the part can be accelerated only to a limited extent.
A further drawback of the known simulator is that it occupies much space, as the entire leg-supported part of the simulator is located above the first pivot points and hence extends entirely above the legs. Moreover, in this construction, the center of gravity of the moving part of the motion simulator is high. Consequently, the forces and moments transmitted to the legs become very great and the motion characteristic of the platform is also adversely affected.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Hence, an object of the invention is to provide a method for the manufacture of a motion sim
REFERENCES:
patent: 3577659 (1971-05-01), Kail
patent: 3619911 (1971-11-01), Pancoe
patent: 3645011 (1972-02-01), Callamen
patent: 4576577 (1986-03-01), Lam et al.
patent: 4753596 (1988-06-01), Hart et al.
patent: 4978299 (1990-12-01), Deane
patent: 5018973 (1991-05-01), Alet et al.
patent: 5182150 (1993-01-01), Carlos et al.
patent: 5388991 (1995-02-01), Morris
patent: 5433608 (1995-07-01), Murray
patent: 5511979 (1996-04-01), Perfect et al.
patent: 5545040 (1996-08-01), Lu
patent: 5564985 (1996-10-01), Engstrand
patent: 5605462 (1997-02-01), Denne
patent: 5662523 (1997-09-01), Yasumaru et al.
Advani Sunjoo Kan
Beukers Adriaan
van Baten Tom Jacobus
Hirsch Paul J.
Michaelson Peter L.
Pokotylo John C.
Technische Universiteit Delft
LandOfFree
Method of manufacturing a motion simulator, and a motion simulat does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method of manufacturing a motion simulator, and a motion simulat, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method of manufacturing a motion simulator, and a motion simulat will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-683557