A Geometric Constructive Approach for the Workspace Analysis of Symmetrical 5-PRUR Parallel Mechanisms (3T2R)

This paper investigates an important kinematic property, the constant-orientation workspace, of five-degree-of-freedom parallel mechanisms generating the 3T2R motion and comprising five identical limbs of the PRUR type. The general mechanism originates from the type synthesis performed for symmetrical 5-DOF parallel mechanism. In this study, the emphasis is placed on the determination of constant-orientation workspace using geometrical interpretation of the so-called vertex space, i.e., motion generated by a limb for a given orientation, rather than relying on classical recipes, such as discretization methods. For the sake of better understanding a CAD model is also provided for the vertex space. The constructive geometric approach presented in this paper provides some insight into the architecture optimization. Moreover, this approach facilitates the computation of the evolution of the volume of the constant-orientation workspace for different orientations of the end-effector.