Elastodynamics modeling of 4-SPS/CU parallel mechanism with flexible moving platform based on absolute nodal coordinate formulation

Abstract

The moving platform of the 4-SPS/CU (S is the spherical joint, P is the prismatic joint, C is the cylindrical joint, U is the universal joint) parallel mechanism is treated as a thin-plate element based on the absolute nodal coordinate formulation due to its physical characteristic. In order to eliminate high-frequency modes caused by the coupling between membrane and bending effects, the elastic mid-surface approach is used to evaluate the elastic force of the flexible moving platform. In order to formulate constraint equations between the flexible body and the rigid body, the tangent frame is introduced to define the joint coordinate system that is rigidly attached to the node at the joint, which is convenient for determining the constant vector in the joint coordinate system. The dynamics model of the parallel mechanism with the flexible moving platform is built based on the equation of motion. The simulation results show that the vibration frequency caused by the flexible body will be increased with the increasing stiffness of the material, and the kinematic trajectory and dynamics performance of the parallel mechanism are affected seriously when the smaller Young’s modulus is used, which illustrates that the effect of the flexible moving platform on the dynamic performance of the parallel mechanism should not be ignored.