Configuration Synthesis of Metamorphic Mechanisms Based on Characteristic Incidence Matrix

This paper presents an approach to the configuration synthesis of metamorphic mechanisms with consideration of both link and joint changes. The technique, referred to here as computational geometry, uses a constraint graph to represent topological structure of metamorphic mechanisms instead of traditional graph representation that can not distinguish link types and multi-joints. Based on the constraint graph, a characteristic incidence matrix is proposed with the characteristic relationships between links and joints. Then, a synthetic method based on characteristic incidence matrix is put forward in this paper using operations among matrixes with different orders by binary computing. Through an example of a four-bar mechanism synthesizing into five-bar mechanisms with the proposed configuration synthetic method, it is confirmed that the approach is correct and effective for the configuration synthesis of all metamorphic mechanisms with single or multiple joints.