A compliance modeling method of flexible rotary joint for collaborative robot using passive network synthesis theory

Collaborative robots have become a research focus because of their wide applications. However, the previous compliance design method of the flexible rotary joint for collaborative robot mainly relied on experience of designers, and “trial and error” method is usually adopted, no feasible and systematic theory for the designer to select numerical value and series-parallel connection mode of the springs and dampers for the flexible rotary joint. Thus, developing a feasible compliance modeling theory to guide the design of the flexible rotary joint is a particularly challenging task. The main contribution of this paper is to present a novel and effective compliance modeling theory of the flexible rotary joint for collaborative robot based on electrical and mechanical passive network synthesis, to provide theoretical and systematic guidances for compliance design of the flexible rotary joint. First, inerter element is introduced into the mechanical system, and the compliance of the flexible rotary joint is expressed as an angular velocity admittance function using electrical and mechanical network analogy. Then, by passive network synthesis theory, the three kinds of compliance realization forms of rational function and four-element compliance realization conditions of biquadratic function for the flexible rotary joint are given using inerters, springs, and dampers. Moreover, numerical examples and simulations are conducted to illustrate effectiveness of the proposed compliance realization method. Finally, discussions are given to illustrate advantages of the proposed compliance modeling and design methods compared with the previous method.

Development of a Novel Three Degrees-of-Freedom Rotary Vibration-Assisted Micropolishing System Based on Piezoelectric Actuation

The limited degrees of freedom (DOF) and movement form of the compliant vibration-assisted processing device are inherent constraints of the polishing technique. In this paper, a concept of a 3-DOF rotary vibration-assisted micropolishing system (3D RVMS) is proposed and demonstrated. The 3-DOF means the proposed vibration-assisted polishing device (VPD) is driven by three piezo-electric (PZT) actuators. Compared with the current vibration-assisted polishing technology which generates a trajectory with orthogonal actuators or parallel actuators, a novel 3-DOF piezoelectrically actuated VPD was designed to enable the workpiece to move along the rotational direction. Meanwhile, the proposed VPD can deliver large processing stoke in mrad scale and can be operated at a flexible non-resonant mode. A matrix-based compliance modeling method was adopted for calculating the compliance and amplification ratio of the VPD. Additionally, the dynamic and static properties of the developed VPD were verified using finite element analysis. Then, the VPD was manufactured and experimentally tested to investigate its practical performance. Finally, various polished surfaces which used silicon carbide (SiC) ceramic as workpiece material were uniformly generated by the high-performance 3D RVMS. Compared with a nonvibration polishing system, surface roughness was clearly improved by introducing rotary vibration-assisted processing. Both the analysis and experiments verified the effectiveness of the present 3D RVMS for micro-machining surfaces.

Development of Piezo-Actuated Two-Degree-of-Freedom Fast Tool Servo System

Fast tool servo (FTS) machining technology is a promising method for freeform surfaces and machining micro-nanostructure surfaces. However, limited degrees of freedom (DOF) is an inherent drawback of existing FTS technologies. In this paper, a piezo-actuated serial structure FTS system is developed to obtain translational motions along with z and x-axis directions for ultra-precision machining. In addition, the principle of the developed 2-DOF FTS is introduced and explained. A high-rigidity four-bar (HRFB) mechanism is proposed to produce motion along the z-axis direction. Additionally, through a micro-rotation motion around flexible bearing hinges (FBHs), bi-directional motions along the x-axis direction can be produced. The kinematics of the mechanism are described using a matrix-based compliance modeling (MCM) method, and then the static analysis and dynamic analysis are performed using finite element analysis (FEA). Testing experiments were conducted to investigate the actual performance of the developed system. The results show that low coupling, proper travel, and high natural frequency are obtained. Finally, a sinusoidal wavy surface is uniformly generated by the mechanism developed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the FTS system.

Development of A New Type of 2-DOF Piezo-Actuated Pseudo-Decoupled Compliant Mechanism for Elliptical Vibration Machining

Currently, the elliptical vibration cutting/coining (EVC2) has been widely employed in fabricating various functional microstructure surfaces applied in many significant engineering fields. Therefore, for this study, a novel type of two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) piezoelectrically actuated pseudo-decoupled compliant mechanisms (PDCMs) with non-orthogonal decoupling structures, which can exactly generate the strict ellipse trajectories, was developed for improving the forming accuracies of the EVC2 microstructures. First, the compliance matrices of 2-DOF PDCMs were theoretically modeled using the popular finite beam-based matrix modeling (FBMM) and the matrix-based compliance modeling (MCM) methods, then finite element analysis (FEA) was adopted to verify the effectiveness of the built compliance model for the 2-DOF PDCM with arbitrary structure parameters. Second, the static FEA method was employed to systematically reveal the dependencies of the tracking accuracies of the elliptical trajectories on the decoupling structures of 2-DOF PDCMs. Moreover, their main dynamic performances were also investigated through the FEA-based harmonic response analysis and modal analysis. On these bases, the critical angle of the decoupling structure was optimally set at 102.5° so that the PDCMs had minimum shape distortions of the ellipse trajectories. Thirdly, a series of experiments was conducted on this PDCM system for practically investigating its kinematic and dynamic performances. The actual aspect ratio between the major axis and minor axis of the ellipse trajectory was approximately 1.057, and the first-order and second-order resonant frequencies were 863 Hz and 1893 Hz, respectively. However, the obtained testing results demonstrated well the effectiveness and feasibility of 2-DOF PDCM systems in precisely tracking the ellipse trajectories with different geometric parameters. Several critical conclusions on this study are summarized in detail in the final section of this paper.

An Empirically Determined Design Guideline for Rectangular Cross Section Nitinol Flexure Hinges With the Focus on Flexibility-Strength Trade-Off

In our group, we are developing flexure hinge based manipulators made of nitinol for minimally invasive surgery. On the one hand, sufficient flexibility is required from flexure hinges to be able to cover the surgical workspace. On the other hand, the bending amount of the flexure hinges has to be limited below the yielding point to ensure a safe operation. As a result of these considerations, it has to be questioned how much bending angle a nitinol flexure hinge with given geometric dimensions can provide without being subject to plastic deformation. Due to the nonlinearities resulting from large deflections and the material itself, the applicability of the suggested approaches in the literature regarding compliance modeling of flexure hinges is doubtful. Therefore, a series of experiments was conducted in order to characterize the rectangular cross section nitinol flexure hinges regarding the flexibility-strength trade-off. The nitinol flexure hinge samples were fabricated by wire electrical discharge machining in varying thicknesses while keeping the length constant and in varying lengths while keeping the thickness constant. The samples were loaded and unloaded incrementally until deflections beyond visible plastic deformation occured. Each pose in loaded and unloaded states was recorded by means of a digital microscope. The deflection angles yielding to permanent set values corresponding to 0.1% strain were measured and considered as elastic limit. A quasilinear correlation between maximum elastic deflection angle and length-to-thickness ratio was identified. Based on this correlation, a minimal model was determined to be a limit for a secure design. The proposed guideline was verified by additional measurements with additional samples of random dimensions and finite element analysis.

Research on a 3-DOF Motion Device Based on the Flexible Mechanism Driven by the Piezoelectric Actuators

This paper describes the innovative design of a three-dimensional (3D) motion device based on a flexible mechanism, which is used primarily to produce accurate and fast micro-displacement. For example, the rapid contact and separation of the tool and the workpiece are realized by the operation of the 3D motion device in the machining process. This paper mainly concerns the device performance. A theoretical model for the static performance of the device was established using the matrix-based compliance modeling (MCM) method, and the static characteristics of the device were numerically simulated by finite element analysis (FEA). The Lagrangian principle and the finite element analysis method for device dynamics are used for prediction to obtain the natural frequency of the device. Under no-load conditions, the dynamic response performance and linear motion performance of the three directions were tested and analyzed with different input signals, and three sets of vibration trajectories were obtained. Finally, the scratching experiment was carried out. The detection of the workpiece reveals a pronounced periodic texture on the surface, which verifies that the vibration device can generate an ideal 3D vibration trajectory.