Digital type synthesis method of twin parallel mechanisms and several novel manipulators

Abstract

In the area of parallel mechanisms, the disadvantage of small workspace restricts its application in practical engineering fields. To resolve this common defect of parallel mechanisms, a new type of twin parallel mechanism (TPM) with large workspace is developed by coupling two identical parallel mechanisms through sharing certain kinematic pairs. Moreover, the configuration principle of the TPM is systematically investigated, and the applicable degrees of freedom of the TPM are presented. In order to acquire the desired TPM rapidly and effectively, a new definition of the incidence matrix of the spatial branch chain is proposed, and the mapping relationship between the branch chain and the incidence matrix is established. Furthermore, the limb screw system and the limb constraint system are automatically calculated, and a digital synthesis method of the TPM is presented. Various new configurations of the symmetrical TPM with excellent workspace performance are constructed. The proposed method can be widely applied in the fields of robot joints, antenna base, and orientation-adjusting mechanisms.