Type Synthesis and Application of Gear Linkage Transplanting Mechanisms Based on Graph Theory

Abstract

Abstract. Type synthesis is an important step when designing innovations in mechanisms. To overcome the limitation of traditional gear train transplanting mechanisms in realizing a specific trajectory, a swinging linkage mechanism is introduced into the design of the transplanting mechanism. To design a crop-transplanting gear linkage mechanism (GLM), an automatic synthesis method based on graph theory is proposed in this article. First, the numbers of loops, links, joints and other parameters, along with unlabeled graphs, are calculated based on the structural characteristics of the GLM. The labeled graphs that correspond to the kinematic chain (KC) are then obtained by thickening the edges of the unlabeled graphs, and physically reasonable labeled graphs are derived from identification of the structural rationality of the corresponding structures. Based on the relative motion characteristics of the input and output links of the transplanting mechanisms, criteria for screening the gear linkage mechanisms represented by the labeled graphs are formulated, and the labeled graphs that are suitable for transplanting are calculated to enrich the configurations of the transplanting mechanisms. Finally, two examples are tested to verify the effectiveness of the proposed type synthesis method. Keywords: Gear linkage, Screening, Topological graph, Transplanting mechanism, Type synthesis.