Session: MR-03-01 Compliant Mechanisms (A. Midha Symposium)

Paper Number: 69032

Start Time: August 17, 03:20 PM

69032 - A Mirror-Symmetrical Xy Compliant Parallel Manipulator With Improved Performances Without Increasing the Footprint 

The design of XY compliant parallel manipulators (CPMs) remains challenging considering the tradeoff between the mirror-symmetry configuration for better constrained undesired rotations and the small footprint, although a significant number of XY CPMs have been reported in literature for extensive applications. This paper presents a new XY CPM using the mirror-symmetry configuration without increasing its footprint, mainly aiming to reduce the undesired parasitic rotations of input and output stages. The concept of higher degree of stiffness centre symmetry is deployed to tackle the parasitic rotations, leading to a multi-layer compact XY CPM design with each layer being a rotational-symmetry design. A nonlinear and analytical (closed-form) model of the proposed XY CPM is derived using free body diagrams and the Beam Constrained Model (BCM) to accurately analyse its performance characteristics over a large range of motion. The designed XY CPM is then verified by the nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) method. Finally, the proposed two-layer design is comprehensively compared with the well-received single-layer rotation-symmetrical design by Awtar. It is shown in the new design that the parasitic rotations of input and output stages under the single-axis or two-axis actuation, along with the actuator isolation, are significantly reduced and that the out-of-plane-stiffness can also be significantly increased.

Presenting Author: Jiaxiang Zhu University College Cork

Authors:

Jiaxiang Zhu University College Cork
Guangbo Hao University College Cork
Shiyao Li University College Cork
Shuwen Yu University College Cork
Xianwen Kong Heriot-Watt University