Compliant mechanism synthesis by using elastic similitude

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Compliant mechanisms have several advantages, especially smaller number of elements and therefore less movable joints. The flexural members furthermore allow an integration of special functions like balancing or locking. Especially fiber reinforced materials exhibit a wide range of function integration considering their compliance in passive as well active applications. To take advantage of compliant elements in applications a robust synthesis tool is needed. The synthesis based on topology optimization method or the pseudo rigid body approach leads to complex structures. Considering the use of fiber reinforced material a synthesis approach which leads to less complex structures is more suitable. For building up simple structures, with only one cantilever beam as compliant element(B) a graphical approach using the elastic similitude is the most efficient method. A step-by-step synthesis procedure is presented to synthesize compliant mechanisms with rotatory joints(R) and prismatic joints (P) to develop RRB/PRB- and RPB-linkages. Using the elastic similitude to implement these results into a graphical synthesis algorithm is the innovation part of this paper. It can be shown that this approach leads to a comfortable handling of beam elements during the synthesis, where the two free parameters can be directly coupled to scale and fix the orientation of the beam element. This advantage inherently shortens the development process. In giving an example the focus lies of the experimental approach, which also shows that the simple BERNOULLI beam model is valid and so the synthesis by using the elastic similitude. The method is presented and discussed by using an application for a cup holder mechanism made of fiber reinforced material.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)769-775
Number of pages7
JournalChinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering (English Edition)
Volume28
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2015
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0003-2834-8933/work/142238365

Keywords

Keywords

  • Compliant mechanism, Elastic similitude, Synthesis