Citation: Zhao, Y.; Chen, S.; Gao, Y.;
Yue, H.; Yang, X.; Lu, T.; Yang, F.
Design and Analysis of a
Deployment Mechanism with
Clearance Compensation for High
Stiffness Missile Wings. Drones 2022,
6, 211. https://doi.org/10.3390/
drones6080211
Academic Editors: Andrzej
Łukaszewicz, Wojciech Giernacki,
Zbigniew Kulesza, Jaroslaw Pytka
and Andriy Holovatyy
Received: 29 July 2022
Accepted: 15 August 2022
Published: 17 August 2022
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Article
Design and Analysis of a Deployment Mechanism with
Clearance Compensation for High Stiffness Missile Wings
Yong Zhao
1
, Shang Chen
2
, Yimeng Gao
1
, Honghao Yue
1
, Xiaoze Yang
1
, Tongle Lu
1
and Fei Yang
1,
*
1
School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150080, China
2
China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, Beijing 100076, China
* Correspondence: yangf@hit.edu.cn; Tel.: +86-133-2940-8782
Abstract:
The deployment performance of the unfolded wing determines whether the winged missiles
can fly normally after being launched, infecting the attack performance of the winged missiles. The
paper proposes a new deployment mechanism with clearance eliminator. Based on the slider-crank
principle, the proposed deployment mechanism achieves fast and low-impact deployment of the
wings. The proposed clearance eliminator with shape memory alloy (SMA) effectively eliminates the
clearance of the sliding pair and improves the support stiffness and stability of the deployed wing.
The collision characteristics and the clearance elimination are studied for the deployment mechanism.
The influence of the collision force on the motion state of the wing during the deployment is analyzed.
The static stiffness of the wing under the clearance state and the deformation is analyzed. The
dynamic stiffness under the catapult clearance elimination state is modeled based on the fractal
geometry and contact stress theory. The relationship between the locking force and the support
stiffness is revealed. The kinetic simulation is used to analyze the motion response during the action
of the deployment mechanism. Modal analysis, harmonic response analysis, and random vibration
analysis were conducted for the whole wings. A prototype was developed to verify the ejection
performance of the wing according to the input load characteristics. The dynamic stiffness of the
unfolded wings is tested by the fundamental frequency experiments to verify the performance of
the clearance elimination assembly. The experimental results show that the designed deployment
mechanism with clearance compensation achieves fast ejection and high stiffness retention of the
missile wing.
Keywords:
deloyment mechanism design; clearance eliminator with shape memory alloy; characteristic
analysisp; stiffness enhancement
1. Introduction
Winged missiles have the advantages of good maneuverability, easy control, and both
the active and passive segments of the flight trajectory can be controlled. This form has
been applied to airborne missiles, anti-ship missiles, anti-tank missiles, and air defense
missiles [
1
–
5
]. As winged missiles increase in lethality, strike accuracy, and battlefield de-
terrence, the number of missiles carried and their launch efficiency are becoming important
indicators of the attack capability of modern weapons such as warplanes and ships. If the
space occupied by individual missiles can be reduced, the amount of ammunition carried
will be significantly increased, and the carrying capacity of the aircraft will be greatly
enhanced. Morphing wings can realize flexible maneuvering in different flight environ-
ments and maintain high flight efficiency [
6
–
11
]. The aircraft wing can be divided into the
in-plane deformation of the wing [
12
,
13
], the out-plane deformation of the wing [
14
–
19
],
and the wing deformation [
20
–
23
]. Winged missiles generally have foldable or retractable
wings [
24
–
28
], so that they can be stowed in the launcher in a small footprint and their
wings can open automatically when the missile is launched. In order to reduce the lateral
dimensions of the missile; facilitate storage, transportation and launch; save storage and
Drones 2022, 6, 211. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones6080211 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/drones
