Gravity compensation method via magnetic quasi-zero stiffness combined with a quasi-zero deformation control strategy

Gravity compensation refers to the creation of a constant supporting force to fully or partly counteract the gravitational force for ground verification to simulate the spacecraft dynamics in outer space with zero- or micro-gravity. Gravity compensation is usually implemented via a very low stiffness suspension/supporting unit, and a servo system in series is adopted to extend the simulation range to hundreds of millimeters. The error of suspension force can be up to tens of Newton due to the contact/friction in the suspension/supporting unit and the error of the force/pressure sensor. It has become a bottleneck for the ground verification of spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control systems with extreme requirements, such as tons of payload and fine thrust in sub-Newtons. In this article, a novel gravity compensation method characterized by quasi-zero stiffness plus quasi-zero deformation (QZS-QZD) is proposed. A magnetic negative stiffness spring in parallel with positive springs and aerostatic bearing is adopted to form a QZS supporting unit, and disturbance forces, such as contact or friction, can be eliminated. The deformation of the QZS supporting unit is measured via a displacement sensor, and the QZD control strategy is applied to guarantee the force error of gravity compensation to be less than sub-newtons and irrelevant to the payload. The principle of gravity compensation with QZS-QZD is analyzed, and performance tests on a prototype are carried out. The results show that when the spacecraft moves smoothly, the absolute force error is less than 0.5 N, the relative error of gravity compensation is less than 0.1%, and when collisions with other objects occur, the relative errors are 0.32% and 0.65%. The proposed method can significantly improve the gravity compensation accuracy in comparison with conventional approaches.