On the Dead-Center Positions of Stephenson Six-Bar Linkage

Abstract

A new method for identifying the dead-center positions of the Stephenson six-bar linkage is presented by this article. This method uses the input-output polynomial equation of the linkage and the corresponding Sylvester's resultant to formulate the necessary condition of the dead-center configurations as a polynomial equation in terms of the input parameter; then through a simple analytical method to obtain all the truly dead-center positions among the double roots to the condition equation. An example is given to demonstrate the validity of this method.