Motion imparting apparatus

Education and demonstration – Vehicle operator instruction or testing – Flight vehicle

Patent

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Details

434 45, 434 59, 434372, G09B 900

Patent

active

056054629

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to motion imparting apparatus and is particularly concerned with apparatus for imparting motion to a platform in order to either simulate rides in land borne, water borne or space vehicles or to maintain the platform in a desired orientation.
Such motion imparting mechanisms when used to simulate rides are usually called simulators and are of use in flight training and in the leisure industry and generally comprise a capsule with sound and visual displays and seating facilities and a mechanism by means of which the capsule may have imparted to it motion in a number of degrees of freedom, e.g. heave, pitch and roll.
The capsule is sometimes mounted on a base framework and its movement is normally actuated by hydraulic piston and cylinder units. The positioning of the capsule in its movements of heave (up and down) pitch (nose tilt down and up) and roll (rotation about longitudinal axis) is governed by the relative movements of the piston and cylinder units. In some cases the piston and cylinder units also provide the restraining mechanisms for the capsule, and this is found to cause considerable wear in the bearings and seals associated with those units. British patent specifications nos. 1224505 and 1385186 show arrangements where a triangular base framework for a capsule is suspended from above by three hydraulic piston and cylinder units and these units are selectively operated to provide heave, pitch and roll movements to the capsule. The provision of the necessary gantry or other support structure for such a suspended system creates design difficulties due to the lateral forces present during movement of the capsule.
British patent specification no. 1145213 shows an arrangement for a flight simulator where linkages between hydraulic actuators and the capsule supporting frame act as restraining means as well as force transmitters. The efficiency of the hydraulic actuators is considerably reduced because of the number of bearings and pivots within the system between actuator and capsule supporting frame.
European patent application no. 88309011.0, publication no. 0317062A1, describes a simulator mechanism with a geometrical arrangement having three independently extendible hydraulic actuators capable of changing the simulator operating plane.
There is a demand for small, light and efficient simulator machines but it has become clear that conventional hydraulic actuator based systems are not the best way of achieving such machines due to the fact that they are rigid in their passive state, expensive to assemble and maintain, inefficient and in most cases need to be bolted to a firm foundation.
There is now described an arrangement for controlling movement of a platform in a plurality of degrees of freedom with respect to a base plane comprising resilient means for supporting the weight of the platform and one or more impulse drive actuators for applying an impulsive force between the platform and the base plane to alter the orientation of the platform with respect to the base plane.
The impulse drive actuator is an electromagnetic device in the form of a linear electromagnetic ram. The weight counter balancing means is preferably a long stroke spring member such an air spring and reservoir.
If the base plane is the ground or fixed to the ground then the apparatus becomes a simulator. If, however, the base plane is non-stationary e.g. a ship or vehicle then the platform can be stabilized to maintain (e.g.) a fixed orientation with respect to the horizontal and to absorb sudden changes of height. A stabilized platform, however, requires the addition of one or more motion sensors on the platform or base plane in order to provide computer control apparatus with input signals indicative of actual positions in the requisite number of dimensions. Otherwise, the structure of a stabilized platform is the same as a simulator, all that changes are the computer control parameters.
In the case of a road vehicle the apparatus becomes an "active suspension system".
Other aspects of the present inv

REFERENCES:
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patent: 5071352 (1991-12-01), Denne
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patent: 5370535 (1994-12-01), Prendergast

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