A Wire-Driven Parallel Suspension System with 8 Wires (WDPSS-8) for Low-Speed Wind Tunnels

As a new type of parallel manipulator, the wire-driven parallel manipulator has advantageous characteristics such as simple and reconfiguration structure, large workspace, high load capacity, high load/weight ratio, easy assembly/disassembly, high modularization, low cost and high speed. A new concept has been proposed by using the wire-driven parallel manipulator as aircraft model suspension system in low-speed wind tunnel tests for nearly 9 years. The authors of the context have undertaken over six years research work about a 6-degree-of-freedom (DOF) wire-driven parallel suspension system with 8 wires (WDPSS-8) for low-speed wind tunnels, and achieved some deep understanding. The attitude control and aerodynamic coefficients (static derivatives) of the scale model have been investigated both theoretically and experimentally. Two prototypes (WDPSS-8) have been developed and tested in low-speed wind tunnels. It is also found the possibility to use the prototypes (WDPSS-8) for the experiment of dynamic derivatives by successfully implementing the single-DOF oscillation control to the scale model. In order to investigate the feasibility of using the same wire-driven parallel suspension system for the static and dynamic derivates experiments in low-speed wind tunnels, the research will go on in this direction. The research results, particularly the experiments of the dynamic derivatives, will provide some criterion of experimental data for the free flight and some effective experimental methods,which deal with the controllability capability of post stall maneuvers in the design of great aircrafts and a new generation of vehicles. Concerning the research outcomes, 4 projects including sponsored by NSFC(National Natural Science