Modeling and tradespace exploration of a space suit hip bearing assembly using multi-degree-of-freedom range of motion analysis

Space suits are crucial to human spaceflight, but can restrict motion, require additional energy, and increase injury risk. Previous planetary suits were largely based on flexible components, which generate additional forces on the occupant as they resist volumetric changes from flexing components. The NASA Mark III suit addresses this problem using a Hip Brief Assembly (HBA), composed of rigid, constant-volume sections connected by bearings. However, due to the rigid components and fixed degrees of freedom (DoFs), the HBA and other hard-component joint assemblies (HCJAs) have stricter bounds on motion. For example, previous analysis shows that the hip multi-DoF range of motion (ROM) for an HBA occupant is not well-aligned with the nominal hip ROM during gait (gait NHROM). In this thesis, a set of methods for describing HCJA geometry and the effect on occupant ROM is presented.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• McKeen, Patrick Calvin.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Leia Stirling.

• Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124205

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/124205