A novel class of generalized parallel manipulators with high rotational capability

Abstract

A conventional parallel manipulator is characterized by connecting one moving platform with two or more serial kinematic limbs. Since each limb is independently supporting one moving platform, the moving platform must be a rigid body with several kinematic pairs fixed on it. However, for generalized parallel manipulators with articulated moving platforms, the moving platforms are not limited to rigid bodies but including serial kinematic chains or internal kinematic joints. The introduction of articulated moving platforms allows for improving the kinematic performance of generalized parallel manipulators, especially for rotational capability. On account of the structural characteristics of the moving platforms, it also poses a significant challenge in the construction of the structures of manipulators. This research raises a new method for the type synthesis of generalized parallel manipulators with novel articulated moving platforms. The proposed method introduces a striking shortcut for the limb structure analysis of mechanisms with high rotational capability. In this paper, a class of generalized parallel manipulator with different degrees of freedom from 3 to 6 are constructed by using the constraint synthesis method, and several examples are provided to demonstrate the feasibility of the advocated method. At last, the 3T3R generalized parallel manipulator is taken as an example to analyze the inverse kinematics, and the evaluation of the workspace is conducted to verify the rotational capacity.