A 6-DOF deep-ocean mining ship motion simulator

In order to build up a simulation test installation of mechanical behavior of the lifting pipe system which is the key component of deep-ocean mining system, a mining ship motion simulator is developed. The Stewart 6-DOF platform is selected to simulate the 6-DOF motions including pitch, roll, yaw, surge, sway and heave. According to mining ship response and similarity principles, the pitch, roll, yaw angles are less than 20 degrees and surge, sway, heave amplitudes are less than 200 mm. The upper and bottom platform are connected by six hydraulic cylinders which are driven by six electro-hydraulic proportional valves independentiy. PID control and fuzzy PID control were chosen as the control strategy. The fuzzy PID control outweighs the PID control. The test results show that the mining ship motion simulator can move under the predetermined attitude and can be used as a mining ship simulator. © 2013 Asian Network for Scientific Information.