A Four Degrees of Freedom Parallel Manipulator for Machining

Abstract

In the past decades, a number of parallel manipulators have been extensively studied. However, most efforts are dedicated to six degrees of freedom (DOF) or three-DOF manipulators. There is a need for equipment providing more than three DOF's arranged in parallel and based on simpler arrangements than six-DOF arrangements in application. This paper presents a novel four-DOF parallel platform manipulator with base mounted prismatic actuators. The manipulator is driven by four linear actuators. The movable platform of the manipulator can translate along two directions and rotate around two axes respectively. The kinematics model is formulated, which describes the inverse and forward kinematics transformation. It is very easy to develop a five-axis NC machine-tool which is of large-workspace based on the four-DOF parallel mechanism presented in this paper.