Manipulate mechanism design and synchronous motion application for driving simulator

The manipulate load system of a helicopter driving simulator is a complex mechatronic system. To simulate the load system of the joystick more effectively, this study provides a new manipulate mechanism with automatic position reset function that integrates a spring system within the joystick. The load simulation of this manipulate mechanism can be achieved by designing the nonlinear coefficient of the spring in a reasonable manner, thereby eliminating the need for complex control of motor simulation and system time delay. This greatly simplifies the complexity of the system and effectively meets the requirements of real-time and accuracy. Initially, the new manipulate mechanism is described in detail through kinematic analysis. Then, dynamic simulation is conducted in ADAMS software to simulate the motion of the operation mechanism. Considering the active–passive relationships between the manipulate mechanism and the driving simulator, a mapping is established to achieve synchronized motion. The synchronized motion is subsequently evaluated and verified in MATLAB/Simulink. The results reveal that this new manipulate mechanism has high reliability and can effectively achieve synchronized motion with the driving simulator. The new manipulate mechanism will be useful in advancing research into the design of manipulate mechanism processes.