DESIGN AND CHARACTERISATION OF A CONTINUOUS ROTARY DAMPER WITH IDEAL VISCOUS DAMPING PROPERTIES

Abstract

This thesis presents work done to design a continuous rotary damper with ideal viscous damping properties for use in the implementation of the Series Damper Actuator.

An extensive study was done into the designs of existing commercial dampers and various other prototypes developed by independent groups. The first damper was designed based on limited angle viscous dampers, and builds on the work done by Chang in 2005. A second damper, based on the radial piston pump, was designed to overcome the flaws of the first damper. Functioning prototypes were fabricated, and subsequently tested and characterized.

This thesis focuses on the design process taken to develop both dampers, and lists the considerations taken at every stage to improve the performance of the damper. In addition to the analysis of the behavior of the damper output, several suggestions were made that could be taken up by future research.