Appropriate synthesis of the four-bar linkage

Abstract

The uncertainties arising from the fabrication and operation of mechanisms, specifically the four-bar linkage, significantly affect the expected performance of the mechanism. To accommodate uncertainties during the dimensional synthesis of the four-bar linkage, the desired coupler curve response is described by any number of precision point elements and trajectory elements, where each element is specified with an allowable error. A design description which accounts for bounded uncertainties is termed an appropriate design. An appropriate synthesis method is developed to synthesize the entire set of appropriate design solutions corresponding to the desired response. This method is able to completely explore the continuous design space and each synthesized appropriate design guarantees that the resulting four-bar linkage has a corresponding coupler point which lies inside each precision point response element, and a corresponding set of continuous coupler points which remain inside the trajectory response elements from start to finish.