scholarly journals Type Synthesis Principle and Practice of Flexure Systems in the Framework of Screw Theory: Part II—Numerations and Synthesis of Complex Flexible Joints

Author(s):  
J. J. Yu ◽  
X. Pei ◽  
S. Z. Li ◽  
Hai-jun Su ◽  
J. B. Hopkins ◽  
...  

In recent years, the increasing of application requirements call for development of a variety of high-performance (e.g. large-displacement, high-precision) flexible joints. In this paper we demonstrate how to use the proposed methodology for the type synthesis of flexure systems given in the companion paper to synthesize concepts for complex flexible joints. According to the joint characteristics other than other flexure systems, a basic design philosophy and a general type synthesis process for flexible joints are presented firstly. The numerations and type synthesis for four commonly used flexible joint types, i.e. flexible revolute joints (FRJs), flexible translational joints (FTJs), flexible universal joints (FUJs), and flexible spherical joints (FSJs) are investigated in detail. As a result, not only a variety of known flexible joints are systematically surveyed and classified, but also are some new flexible joints developed. The output of this process is the derivation of a multiple of flexible joint concepts that would then be modeled and optimized by existing modeling and analysis methods.

1989 ◽  
Vol 111 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. K. Davidson

A type-synthesis process, which is based on screw theory and geometry, is developed to identify certain robots, each of which can provide controllably dexterous workspace of a tool-point. The identification process is confined to only those robots which control the motion of the end-effector with seven series-connected joints, the axes for the outermost three of which are concurrent. Forty six types of robots are so identified, and, for each, the results are (i) a suitable kinematic chain for the arm and (ii) suitable angle-dimensions for the links of the arm, where the angle-choices are limited to the values 0, ± π/2, and π. A geometric description of the dominant function for control is included. The same kinematic chains are surveyed for all possible parallel and right-angle arrangements of adjacent axes in the four links of the arm. Again utilizing screw theory, 160 robots are identified which do not posses full-cycle axis-dependence among some or all of the first five axes.


Author(s):  
J. J. Yu ◽  
S. Z. Li ◽  
X. Pei ◽  
Hai-jun Su ◽  
J. B. Hopkins ◽  
...  

The systematic methodologies involved in type synthesis of flexure systems are no doubt helpful to generate one and more high-performance precision machine designs at the stage of conceptual design with a rapid and effective way. This paper provides a systematic formulation of the type synthesis of parallel, serial, and hybrid flexure systems via a mapping from a geometric concept to physical entity. The whole type synthesis principle is built upon screw system theory and the geometric Freedom and Constraint Topology (FACT) approach, also combining with other concepts and methods including equivalent compliance mapping, building block etc, which enables the type synthesis of flexure systems deterministic, simple and practical. After that, Type synthesis procedure for various flexure systems are elaborated with examples. As a result, as many specified-DOF (Degree of Freedom) flexure systems as possible can be found and therefore pave the way for obtaining an optimal configuration.


Author(s):  
S. Z. Li ◽  
J. J. Yu ◽  
X. Pei ◽  
Hai-jun Su ◽  
J. B. Hopkins ◽  
...  

In recent years, the increasing of application requirements call for development of a variety of flexure mechanisms with high precision or large motion and both. Therefore, in Part III of this series of papers we demonstrate how to use the methodology addressed in Part I to synthesize concepts for two kinds of flexure mechanisms, i.e. kinematics-type flexure mechanisms (KFMs) and constraint-type flexure mechanisms (CFMs) with the specified-DOF (Degree of Freedom) characteristics. Although most of them utilize parallel configurations and flexure elements, there is a clear difference in the behavior of flexures between KFMs and CFMs, The resultant type synthesis approaches fall into two distinct categories i.e. freedom-based and constraint-based one, both of which have presented in Part I. In order to derive useful flexure mechanism concepts available for different applications, a general design philosophy and rules are summarized firstly. As the main content of this part, the classifications, numerations, and synthesis for KFMs and CFMs are made in a systematic way. As a result, a majority of new precision flexure mechanisms are developed. In addition, qualitative comparisons are provided to demonstrate the performance and application differences between kinematic-type and constraint-type flexure mechanisms with the same DOF.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongquan Li ◽  
Yang Zhang ◽  
Lijie Zhang

Abstract The current type synthesis of the redundant actuated parallel mechanisms is adding active-actuated kinematic branches on the basis of the traditional parallel mechanisms, or using screw theory to perform multiple getting intersection and union to complete type synthesis. The number of redundant parallel mechanisms obtained by these two methods is limited. In this paper, based on Grassmann line geometry and Atlas method, a novel and effective method for type synthesis of redundant actuated parallel mechanisms (PMs) with closed-loop units is proposed. Firstly, the degree of freedom (DOF) and constraint line graph of the moving platform are determined successively, and redundant lines are added in constraint line graph to obtain the redundant constraint line graph and their equivalent line graph, and a branch constraint allocation scheme is formulated based on the allocation criteria. Secondly, a scheme is selected and redundant lines are added in the branch chains DOF graph to construct the redundant actuated branch chains with closed-loop units. Finally, the branch chains that meet the requirements of branch chains configuration criteria and F&C (degree of freedom & constraint) line graph are assembled. In this paper, two types of 2 rotational and 1 translational (2R1T) redundant actuated parallel mechanisms and one type of 2 translational and 1 rotational (2T1R) redundant actuated parallel mechanisms with few branches and closed-loop units were taken as examples, and 238, 92 and 15 new configurations were synthesized. All the mechanisms contain closed-loop units, and the mechanisms and the actuators both have good symmetry. Therefore, all the mechanisms have excellent comprehensive performance, in which the two rotational DOFs of the moving platform of 2R1T redundant actuated parallel mechanism can be independently controlled. The instantaneous analysis shows that all mechanisms are not instantaneous, which proves the feasibility and practicability of the method.


2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Ali Badamchizadeh ◽  
Iraj Hassanzadeh ◽  
Mehdi Abedinpour Fallah

Robust nonlinear control of flexible-joint robots requires that the link position, velocity, acceleration, and jerk be available. In this paper, we derive the dynamic model of a nonlinear flexible-joint robot based on the governing Euler-Lagrange equations and propose extended and unscented Kalman filters to estimate the link acceleration and jerk from position and velocity measurements. Both observers are designed for the same model and run with the same covariance matrices under the same initial conditions. A five-bar linkage robot with revolute flexible joints is considered as a case study. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed filters.


Author(s):  
Withit Chatlatanagulchai ◽  
Peter H. Meckl

Flexibility at the joint of a manipulator is an intrinsic property. Even “rigid-joint” robots, in fact, possess a certain amount of flexibility. Previous experiments confirmed that joint flexibility should be explicitly included in the model when designing a high-performance controller for a manipulator because the flexibility, if not dealt with, can excite system natural frequencies and cause severe damage. However, control design for a flexible-joint robot manipulator is still an open problem. Besides being described by a complicated system model for which the passivity property does not hold, the manipulator is also underactuated, that is, the control input does not drive the link directly, but through the flexible dynamics. Our work offers another possible solution to this open problem. We use three-layer neural networks to represent the system model. Their weights are adapted in real time and from scratch, which means we do not need the mathematical model of the robot in our control algorithm. All uncertainties are handled by variable-structure control. Backstepping structure allows input efforts to be applied to each subsystem where they are needed. Control laws to adjust all adjustable parameters are devised using Lyapunov’s second method to ensure that error trajectories are globally uniformly ultimately bounded. We present two state-feedback schemes: first, when neural networks are used to represent the unknown plant, and second, when neural networks are used to represent the unknown parts of the control laws. In the former case, we also design an observer to enable us to design a control law using only output signals—the link positions. We use simulations to compare our algorithms with some other well-known techniques. We use experiments to demonstrate the practicality of our algorithms.


2015 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 827-835 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingliang Tang ◽  
Xuerun Li ◽  
Yusheng Shen ◽  
Xiaodong Shen

Modeling of the kinetics of the synthesis process for calcium sulfate α-hemihydrate from gypsum formed by flue gas desulfurization (FGD) is important to produce high-performance products with minimal costs and production cycles under hydrothermal conditions. In this study, a model was established by horizontally translating the obtained crystal size distribution (CSD) to the CSD of the stable phase during the transformation process. A simple method was used to obtain the nucleation and growth rates. A nonlinear optimization algorithm method was employed to determine the kinetic parameters. The model can be successfully used to analyze the transformation kinetics of FGD gypsum to α-hemihydrate in an isothermal batch crystallizer. The results showed that the transformation temperature and stirring speed exhibit a significant influence on the crystal growth and nucleation rates of α-hemihydrate, thus altering the transformation time and CSD of the final products. The characteristics obtained by the proposed model can potentially be used in the production of α-hemihydrate.


2012 ◽  
Vol 614-615 ◽  
pp. 1299-1302
Author(s):  
Ming Jing Li ◽  
Yu Bing Dong ◽  
Guang Liang Cheng

Multiple high speed CMOS cameras composing intersection system to splice large effect field of view(EFV). The key problem of system is how to locate multiple CMOS cameras in suitable position. Effect field of view was determined according to size, quantity and dispersion area of objects, so to determine camera position located on below, both sides and ahead to moving targets. This paper analyzes effect splicing field of view, operating range etc through establishing mathematical model and MATLAB simulation. Location method of system has advantage of flexibility splicing, convenient adjustment, high reliability and high performance-price ratio.


Author(s):  
Basim Mekha ◽  
Alok Kumar ◽  
Mike Stark ◽  
Paul Barnett

In recent years, most fluid produced or exported has been transported using steel catenary risers (SCRs) attached to deepwater floating structures. The SCRs are terminated at the floating structures using Top Termination Units (TTUs) such as flexible joints or tapered stress joints. The flexible joints are usually designed to allow the riser to rotate with the floating structure motion and reduce the amount of moments transferred to the hull structure. The flexible joints depend on the flexibility and compressibility of the elastomer layers to allow for the rotation of the SCR. The stress joints, alternatively, provide fixed support at the hull and thus larger bending moment that has to be accounted for in the hull design. The stress joints can be made of steel or titanium material. The SCR TTU’s receptacle, which will be welded to the hull porch and contains the TTU basket, has to be designed to meet the force and reaction requirements associated with the selected TTU type. However, in some cases which could be due to failure of the TTU to meet the expected life or the operational requirements, the operators may have to replace the damaged TTU with another one or with a different TTU type. A few examples are available in the Gulf of Mexico. Recently the Flexible Joint TTU of the Independent Hub 20-inch export SCR had an operational problem. During the course of investigating the related issues and studying possible solutions, one option considered was the feasibility of replacing the Flexible Joint (FJ) with Titanium Tapered Stress Joint (TSJ). This paper highlights the issues that have to be considered in the design of the FJ existing receptacle to accommodate the force reactions of a Titanium TSJ. These issues are addressed and the results of the detailed finite element analysis performed are provided. The analysis conclusions, which are related to the feasibility of the existing receptacle to receive the loads imposed by TSJ and the modifications required to achieve this, are presented.


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