A nodes-based topology optimization method for thermal designs of hydraulic humanoid robot

• Published in: Journal of computational design and engineering Vol. 12; no. 5; pp. 78 - 94
• Main Authors: Li, Jingyuan, Gao, Liang, Gao, Jie, Lu, Shengyu, Xie, Sicheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01.05.2025; 한국CDE학회
• Subjects: Design optimization; Dissipation; Flow charts; Humanoid; Hydraulics; Nodes; Optimization; Performance enhancement; Robots; Sensitivity analysis; Topology optimization; 기계공학; four-node tetrahedral elements; hydraulic humanoid robot; heat dissipation; unstructured mesh; nodes-based topology optimization
• ISSN: 2288-5048; 2288-4300; 2288-5048
• DOI: 10.1093/jcde/qwaf048

Abstract The heat dissipation is a critical concerned performance in the design of hydraulic humanoid robot, whereas the related discussions on how to optimize the thermal performance of hydraulic humanoid robot is still in limited. Hence, in the current work, the intention is to develop an efficient nodes-based topology optimization method for the design of hydraulic humanoid robots to improve the performance of heat dissipation as much as possible. Meanwhile, the whole close-loop flowchart from the initial conceptual design using topology optimization to the fabrication of the robot parts with experiment validations is also implemented. In the nodes-based topology optimization method, the unstructured mesh with the four-node tetrahedral elements is introduced to discretize the arbitrary-shaped robot structures in the engineering, and a series of nodal densities are defined for representations of structural topology with several smoothing and filtering schemes, which can effectively alleviate the generation of terrible structural features, such as cusps resulting from four-node tetrahedral elements. The optimization design formulation for minimizing thermal compliance in the structural domain of robots is developed subject to the material volume constraint, and the corresponding sensitivity analysis with respect to design variables are provided. Finally, several design examples, including the benchmark structures and a part of the hydraulic humanoid robot, are addressed by the proposed design method. The optimized design solution of the valve block in the hydraulic robot is processed, simulated and fabricated. The corresponding heat dissipation simulation and experiment results can both clearly demonstrate that the heat dissipation performance of the optimized valve block outperforms the previous design. Graphical Abstract Graphical Abstract Design and optimization flowchart of the robot structure part