Dynamical Analysis of the Root Lock Mechanism of the Space Deployable Mast

The root lock mechanism is a key component of the space deployable mast. Reliability of movement of the root lock mechanism affects directly completion of function of the mast. At first, scheme of the root lock mechanism is analyzed and the mechanism is simplified into two-slider mechanism with a spring. Then movement of the mechanism is studied, and the method of multi-body dynamics of Roberson-Wittenburg is adopted to set up its dynamical equation. In preprocess, incidence matrix, path and circuit matrixes, and general coordinates are set up. In setting up dynamical equation, virtual power is adopted. At last, program in Matlab is used to check correctness of the movement of the root lock mechanism and confirm values of its structural parameters. After such analysis, rationality and correctness of the design are improved.