Computer-aided digitization method for structural synthesis of planar non-fractioned kinematic chains with pure revolute joints

Abstract

Structural synthesis plays an important role in the conceptual design of mechanisms. Based on the link assortment array, links are divided into binary links and multi-vertex links. From the relation of binary links and multi-vertex links, a new form of the adjacency matrix is introduced to illustrate planar kinematic chain. It enriches the representative form of the adjacency matrix, which can provide a new direction for rigid-chain detection and structural synthesis. Without auxiliary graph models, based on the link-path adjacency matrix, characteristic code, and Sudoku Crosswords, a computer-aided digitization method is proposed to synthesize the whole family of planar non-fractioned kinematic chains. Compared with most existing methods of structural synthesis, isomorphic kinematic chains and some rigid chains are identified and deleted in the generation of link-path adjacency matrix, which can improve the efficiency of structural synthesis. By synthesizing planar non-fractioned kinematic chains with up to 10 links and 5 degrees of freedom, results confirm that the proposed method is available.