The dual-array RopeComb: a guide-balanced transmission with synthesisable rising mechanical advantage for impedance-matched launch
Abstract
Efficiently transferring kinetic energy from a slow, high-force driver to a light payload, with a near-uniform output force, requires a transmission whose mechanical advantage rises along a steeply convex profile. Continuous-contour mechanisms (variable-radius drums, cams) become prohibitive at scale through diameter span, inertia and rim burst. The RopeComb bypasses these limits by synthesising profiles (G = 0 → 100+) from discrete constant-radius sheaves deflecting tension members into staggered spans. Each fold's ratio vanishes at first contact, enabling snatch-free engagement at 10 m/s without clutches or dampers. Because the array ratio is closed-form, bounded least squares matches uniform-force targets to within 0.6-1.5% across mass ratios of 100:1 to 10,000:1 using 8-13 members. To carry large carriage reactions without the overturning moment a single array imposes, two independent arrays flank a central guide and drive a partitioned fixed-ratio stage (n1 + n2 = k). Sizing array ratios and member counts in the fall-count ratio n2 : n1 cancels 97.7% of the single-array reaction and 95% of its overturning moment in simulated 1,000:1 launches at k=7, reducing compliant peak-to-mean payload force from 1.40 to 1.13. All results are numerical.
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BibTeX
@misc{mahdi2026dualarray,
title = {{The dual-array RopeComb: a guide-balanced transmission with synthesisable rising mechanical advantage for impedance-matched launch}},
author = {Rami N. Mahdi},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.04320},
eprint = {2610.04320},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.04320},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The dual-array RopeComb: a guide-balanced transmission with synthesisable rising mechanical advantage for impedance-matched launch
AU - Rami N. Mahdi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/03
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.04320
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.04320
AB - Efficiently transferring kinetic energy from a slow, high-force driver to a light payload, with a near-uniform output force, requires a transmission whose mechanical advantage rises along a steeply convex profile. Continuous-contour mechanisms (variable-radius drums, cams) become prohibitive at scale through diameter span, inertia and rim burst. The RopeComb bypasses these limits by synthesising profiles (G = 0 → 100+) from discrete constant-radius sheaves deflecting tension members into staggered spans. Each fold's ratio vanishes at first contact, enabling snatch-free engagement at 10 m/s without clutches or dampers. Because the array ratio is closed-form, bounded least squares matches uniform-force targets to within 0.6-1.5% across mass ratios of 100:1 to 10,000:1 using 8-13 members. To carry large carriage reactions without the overturning moment a single array imposes, two independent arrays flank a central guide and drive a partitioned fixed-ratio stage (n_1 + n_2 = k). Sizing array ratios and member counts in the fall-count ratio n_2 : n_1 cancels 97.7% of the single-array reaction and 95% of its overturning moment in simulated 1,000:1 launches at k=7, reducing compliant peak-to-mean payload force from 1.40 to 1.13. All results are numerical.
ER -