Development of a Locking and Releasing Mechanism for the Two-Dimensional Turntable of a Space Camera

In this paper, a light and small locking and releasing mechanism with separation nut is proposed to control the locking and releasing of the two-dimensional turntable of a space camera. The separation nut is designed to clamp and fix the camera turntable, and the device is fastened by the bolt pre-tightening force. A pyrotechnic method is used to generate high-pressure gas to drive the separation nut to unlock. A bolt activation device is designed to store the energy, allowing for the release of bolt constraints and freedom of the turntable. To verify the reliability of the mechanism and its adaptability to complex space environments, static strength tests, dynamic tests, separation nut unlocking tests, and unlocking and impact tests of the entire mechanism were conducted. The results showed that the locking and releasing mechanism can stably lock and release camera loads, and has the characteristics of small size, light weight, low impact, and high reliability.