Forward/Reverse Velocity and Acceleration Analysis for a Class of Lower-Mobility Parallel Mechanisms

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel kinematic analysis method for a class of lower-mobility mechanisms whose degree-of-freedom (DoF) equal the number of single-DoF kinematic pairs in each kinematic limb if all multi-DoF kinematic pairs are substituted by the single one. For such an N-DoF (N<6) mechanism, this method can build a square (N×N) Jacobian matrix and cubic (N×N×N) Hessian matrix. The formulas in this method for different parallel mechanisms have unified forms and consequently the method is convenient for programming. The more complicated the mechanism is (for instance, the mechanism has more kinematic limbs or pairs), the more effective the method is. In the rear part of the paper, mechanisms 5-DoF 3-R(CRR) and 5-DoF 3-(RRR)(RR) are analyzed as examples.