Specifications

CT Corsair Final Report May 2, 2014
16
5.3 Free Body Analysis: Torque Requirements
To determine the motor torque requirement, it was
necessary to find the total static simulator weight the
motors have to overcome. This weight includes
pushrods, the central spring, the universal joint and the
platform. These components are shown in Figure 13.
Using a platform scale, this weight was determined to be
240lbs.
Included in the simulator weight was an estimate of the
cabin weight. This was broken into two portions: the
pilot weight and the structure weight. The maximum
pilot was estimated to be 250lbs as recommended in
ETC’s original Gyro IPT user manual
18
. The cabin
structure was estimated around 750lbs, which includes
external features and installed instrumentation. This
estimate was determined by the Phase I senior design
team based on the original simulator cockpit
components. This is considered to be an overestimate as
the new components are planned to have a lighter
weight.
To represent the maximum output torque provided by
the motors to move the simulator in the z-direction, the
kinematic equations for the simulator’s vertical lift and
heave were derived. The lift sequence was accepted to
be the distance the platform travels from its rest position
to the highest point the assembly can be lifted. To
Figure 14. Plot of Weight vs. Displacement for Spring Coefficient
Figure 13. Components Contributing
to Static Weight of Simulator
Figure 15. Free body diagram for torque analysis
based on vertical lift