Rapid conceptual design and analysis of spatial flexure mechanisms

Abstract

Flexure mechanisms are the central part of precision instruments and devices for numerous science and engineering applications. Currently, design of flexure mechanisms often heavily relies on finite element analysis. However, the modeling complexity and low computational efficiency make it not suitable for the early design stage when many concepts need to be evaluated in a short period of time. To reduce the overhead in the conceptual design stage, we present a multi-segment energy minimization framework that integrates linear elastic theory for kinetostatic analysis of spatial flexure mechanisms. Compliance matrices for commonly used flexure elements are presented and their accuracy was studied and verified in detail. While deformation of each individual segment depends on the linear elastic theory, the multi-segment model allows accurate calculation of large deformations with high computational efficiency. To facilitate modeling of spatial flexure mechanisms, we have also implemented rich Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) in MATLAB environment. The proposed framework and software tool are tested with spatial mechanisms in which nonlinear kinematic constraints and combined loading are present. The examples showed that the proposed multi-segment framework can accurately capture large kinematic motion subjected to complex loading.