Verification of kinematic joints on a physical prototype of a novel parallel mechanism based on Chebyshev's linkage

Abstract

Developing a novel parallel mechanism design is a complex process, including multiple phases. Designing and analyzing the mechanism's physical prototype is one of the most important phases. The proposed mechanism is novel, with parallel kinematics with actuated translation joins. The considered mechanisms platform has three degrees of freedom (DOF) achieved with three independent kinematic chains representing the connection between the stationary base and the moving platform. The proposed mechanism has numerous connected linkages because of the parallel kinematic construction. The weakest parameter of the mechanisms with parallel kinematics compared to mechanisms with serial kinematics is the shape and size of the workspace. Because of this, the workspace is one of the main parameters in designing a mechanism with parallel kinematics. To achieve the optimal workspace, it is necessary to use the proper joints in the mechanism construction. The mechanism analysis and proper joint selection can be achieved in two ways. The first way is to build the virtual model and experiment on it, and the second is to build the physical prototype. The best way to select the proper joints for the mechanism construction is to compare the analysis results of virtual and physical mechanisms. If the results of comparing virtual and physical prototypes are the same, the physical prototype verifies the mechanism design.