Dynamic Modeling of a Monopropellant-Based Chemofluidic Actuation System

This paper presents a dynamic model of a monopropellant-based chemofluidic power supply and actuation system. The proposed power supply and actuation system, as presented in prior works, is motivated by the current lack of a viable system that can provide adequate energetic autonomy to human-scale power-comparable untethered robotic systems. As such, the dynamic modeling presented herein is from an energetic standpoint by considering the power and energy exchanged and stored in the basic constituents of the system. Two design configurations of the actuation system are presented and both are modeled. A first-principle based lumped-parameter model characterizing reaction dynamics, hydraulic flow dynamics, pneumatic flow dynamics, and compressible gas dynamics is developed for purposes of control design. Experimental results are presented that validate the model.