A Novel Method for Constructing Multi-Mode Deployable Polyhedron Mechanisms Using Symmetric Spatial RRR Compositional Units

Author(s):  
Jieyu Wang ◽  
Xianwen Kong

A novel construction method is proposed to construct multimode deployable polyhedron mechanisms (DPMs) using symmetric spatial RRR compositional units, a serial kinematic chain in which the axes of the first and the third revolute (R) joints are perpendicular to the axis of the second R joint. Single-loop deployable linkages are first constructed using RRR units and are further assembled into polyhedron mechanisms by connecting single-loop kinematic chains using RRR units. The proposed mechanisms are over-constrained and can be deployed through two approaches. The prism mechanism constructed using two Bricard linkages and six RRR limbs has one degree-of-freedom (DOF). When removing three of the RRR limbs, the mechanism obtains one additional 1-DOF motion mode. The DPMs based on 8R and 10R linkages also have multiple modes, and several mechanisms are variable-DOF mechanisms. The DPMs can switch among different motion modes through transition positions. Prototypes are 3D-printed to verify the feasibility of the mechanisms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jieyu Wang ◽  
Xianwen Kong

A novel construction method is proposed to construct multimode deployable polyhedron mechanisms (DPMs) using symmetric spatial RRR compositional units, a serial kinematic chain in which the axes of the first and the third revolute (R) joints are perpendicular to the axis of the second R joint. Single-loop deployable linkages are first constructed using RRR units and are then assembled into polyhedron mechanisms by connecting the single-loop linkages using RRR units. The proposed mechanisms are over-constrained and can be deployed. The prism mechanism constructed using two Bricard linkages and six RRR chains has one degree-of-freedom (DOF). When removing three of the RRR chains, the mechanism will have one additional 1-DOF motion mode. The DPMs based on 8R and 10R linkages also have multiple modes, and several mechanisms have variable-DOF. The DPMs can switch among different motion modes through transition positions. Prototypes are 3D-printed to verify the feasibility of the mechanisms.



Author(s):  
Xianwen Kong

Abstract This paper deals with the construction and reconfiguration analysis of a spatial mechanism composed of four circular translation (G) joints. Two links connected by a G joint, which can be in different forms such as a planar parallelogram, translate along a circular trajectory with respect to each other. A spatial 4G mechanism, which is composed of four G joints, usually has 1-DOF (degree-of-freedom). Firstly, a 2-DOF 4G mechanism is constructed. Then a novel variable-DOF spatial 4G mechanism is constructed starting from the 2-DOF 4G mechanism using the approach based on screw theory. Finally, the reconfiguration analysis is carried out in the configuration space using dual quaternions. The analysis shows that the variable-DOF spatial 4G mechanism has one 2-DOF motion mode and one to two 1-DOF motion modes and reveals how the 4G mechanism can switch among these motion modes. By removing one link from two adjacent G joints each and two links from each of the remaining two G joints, we can obtain a queer-rectangle and a queer-parallelogram, which are the generalization of the queer-square or derivative queer-square in the literature. The approach in this paper can be extended to the analysis of other types of coupled mechanisms using cables and gears and multi-mode spatial mechanisms involving G joints.



Author(s):  
Xianwen Kong ◽  
Andreas Müller

Multi-mode mechanisms, including kinematotropic mechanisms, are a class of reconfigurable mechanisms that can switch motion modes with the same or different DOF (degree-of-freedom). For most of the multi-mode mechanisms reported in the literature, the instantaneous (or differential) DOF and finite DOF in a motion mode are equal. In this paper, we will discuss the construction, reconfiguration analysis, and higher-order mobility analysis of a multi-mode single-loop 7R mechanism that has three motion modes with the same instantaneous DOF but different finite DOF. Firstly, the novel multi-mode single-loop 7R spatial mechanism is constructed by inserting one revolute (R) joint into a plane symmetric Bennett joint-based 6R mechanism for circular translation. The reconfiguration analysis is then carried out in the configuration space by solving a set of kinematic loop equations based on dual quaternions and the natural exponential function substitution using tools from algebraic geometry. The analysis shows that the multi-mode single-loop 7R spatial mechanism has three motion modes, including a 2-DOF planar 5R mode and two 1-DOF spatial 6R modes and can transit between each pair of motion modes through two transition configurations. The higher-order mobility analysis shows that the 7R mechanism has two-instantaneous DOF at a regular configuration of any motion mode and three instantaneous DOF in a transition configuration. The infinitesimal motions that are not tangential to finite motions are of second-order in transition configurations between 2-DOF motion mode 1 and 1-DOF motion modes 2 or 3 or first-order in transition configurations between 1-DOF motion modes 2 and 3.



2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Xianwen Kong

Abstract This paper deals with the construction and reconfiguration analysis of a spatial mechanism composed of four circular translation (G) joints. Two links connected by a G joint, which can be in different forms such as a planar parallelogram, translate along a circular trajectory with respect to each other. A spatial 4G mechanism, which is composed of four G joints, usually has 1-DOF (degree-of-freedom). Firstly, a 2-DOF spatial 4G mechanism is constructed. Then a novel variable-DOF spatial 4G mechanism is constructed starting from the 2-DOF 4G mechanism using the approach based on screw theory. Finally, the reconfiguration analysis is carried out in the configuration space using dual quaternions and tools from algebraic geometry. The analysis shows that the variable-DOF spatial 4G mechanism has one 2-DOF motion mode and one to two 1-DOF motion modes and reveals how the 4G mechanism can switch among these motion modes. By removing one link from two adjacent G joints each and two links from each of the remaining two G joints, we can obtain a queer-rectangle and a queer-parallelogram, which are the generalization of the queer-square or derivative queer-square in the literature. The approach in this paper can be extended to the analysis of other types of coupled mechanisms using cables and gears and multi-mode spatial mechanisms involving G joints.



2014 ◽  
Vol 575 ◽  
pp. 501-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shubhashis Sanyal ◽  
G.S. Bedi

Kinematic chains differ due to the structural differences between them. The location of links, joints and loops differ in each kinematic chain to make it unique. Two similar kinematic chains will produce similar motion properties and hence are avoided. The performance of these kinematic chains also depends on the individual topology, i.e. the placement of its entities. In the present work an attempt has been made to compare a family of kinematic chains based on its structural properties. The method is based on identifying the chains structural property by using its JOINT LOOP connectivity table. Nomenclature J - Number of joints, F - Degree of freedom of the chain, N - Number of links, L - Number of basic loops (independent loops plus one peripheral loop).



2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 1061-1071
Author(s):  
Jinxi Chen ◽  
Jiejin Ding ◽  
Weiwei Hong ◽  
Rongjiang Cui

Abstract. A plane kinematic chain inversion refers to a plane kinematic chain with one link fixed (assigned as the ground link). In the creative design of mechanisms, it is important to select proper ground links. The structural synthesis of plane kinematic chain inversions is helpful for improving the efficiency of mechanism design. However, the existing structural synthesis methods involve isomorphism detection, which is cumbersome. This paper proposes a simple and efficient structural synthesis method for plane kinematic chain inversions without detecting isomorphism. The fifth power of the adjacency matrix is applied to recognize similar vertices, and non-isomorphic kinematic chain inversions are directly derived according to non-similar vertices. This method is used to automatically synthesize 6-link 1-degree-of-freedom (DOF), 8-link 1-DOF, 8-link 3-DOF, 9-link 2-DOF, 9-link 4-DOF, 10-link 1-DOF, 10-link 3-DOF and 10-link 5-DOF plane kinematic chain inversions. All the synthesis results are consistent with those reported in literature. Our method is also suitable for other kinds of kinematic chains.



Robotics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Maurizio Ruggiu ◽  
Xianwen Kong

The paper deals with the reconfiguration analysis of the single-loop variable degree-of-freedom (DOF) RRRRS mechanism composed of five links connected by four revolute (R) joints and one spherical (S) joint. The mechanism may show two modes of motion: one-DOF and two-DOF motion. In the paper, a classical vector procedure is used to obtain the quartic motion equation (QME) that allows one to inspect the nature of the motion. In general, the solutions of the QME provide the one-DOF motion of the mechanism except when all the coefficients of the equation vanish. In this case, the mechanism undergoes the two-DOF motion. The motion of the mechanism built according to two specific architectures was analyzed by the numerical solutions of the QME and with the help of the solid model of the mechanism. It is revealed for the first time that the perpendicular architecture has one 2-DOF motion and two 1-DOF motion modes.



Author(s):  
V. P. Agrawal ◽  
J. N. Yadav ◽  
C. R. Pratap

Abstract A new graph theoretic concept of link-centre of a kinematic chain is introduced. The link-centre of a kinematic chain is defined as a subset of set of links of the kinematic chain using a hierarchy of criteria based on distance concept. A number of structural invariants are defined for a kinematic chain which may be used for identification and classification of kinematic chains and mechanisms. An algorithm is developed on the basis of the concept of distance and the link-centre for optimum selection of input, output and fixed links in a multi-degree-of-freedom function generator.



Author(s):  
Varada Raju Dharanipragada ◽  
Nagaraja Kumar Yenugadhati ◽  
A. C. Rao

Abstract Structural synthesis of kinematic chains leans heavily on indirect methods, most of them based on Graph Theory, mainly because reliable isomorphism tests are not available. Recently however, the first and third authors have established the Secondary Hamming String of a kinematic chain as an excellent indicator of its isomorphism. In the present paper this Hamming String method was applied with slight modifications for synthesizing on a PC-386, distinct kinematic chains with given number of links and family description. The computer program, written in Pascal, generated both the six-bar and all 16 eight-bar chains as well as one sample family (2008) of ten-bar chains, verifying previously established results. Hence this paper presents a direct, quick and reliable method to synthesize planar simple-jointed chains, open or closed, with single- or multi-degree of freedom, containing any number of links. A spin-off of this paper is a simple, concise and unambiguous notation for representing a chain.



Author(s):  
Xiangyu Liu ◽  
Chunyan Zhang ◽  
Cong Ni ◽  
Chenhui Lu

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to put forward a nvew reconfigurable multi-mode walking-rolling robot based on the single-loop closed-chain four-bar mechanism, and the robot can be changed to different modes according to the terrain. Design/methodology/approach Based on the topological analysis, singularity analysis, feasibility analysis, gait analysis and the motion strategy based on motor time-sharing control, the paper theoretically verified that the robot can switch between the four motion modes. Findings The robot integrates four-bar walking, self-deforming and four-bar and six-bar rolling modes. A series of simulation and prototype experiment results are presented to verify the feasibility of multiple motion modes of the robot. Originality/value The work presented in this paper provides a good theoretical basis for further exploration of multiple mode mobile robots. It is an attempt to design the multi-mode mobile robot based on single loop kinematotropic mechanisms. It is also a kind of exploration of the new unknown movement law.



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