REPRESENTATIONS AND IDENTIFICATIONS OF STRUCTURAL AND MOTION STATE CHARACTERISTICS OF MECHANISMS WITH VARIABLE TOPOLOGIES

Abstract

A mechanism that encounters a certain changes in its topological structure during operation is called a mechanism with variable topologies (MVT). This paper is developed for the structural and motion state representations and identifications of MVTs. For representing the topological structures of MVTs, a set of methods including graph and matrix representations is proposed. For representing the motion state characteristics of MVTs, the idea of finite-state machines is employed via the state tables and state graphs. And, two new concepts, the topological homomorphism and motion homomorphism, are proposed for the identifications of structural and motion state characteristics of MVTs. The results of this work provide a logical foundation for the topological analysis and synthesis of mechanisms with variable topologies.