A Coordinate-Free Approach to Tracing the Coupler Curves of Pin-Jointed Linkages

In general, high-order coupler curves of plane mechanisms cannot be properly traced by standard predictor-corrector algorithms due to drifting problems and the presence of singularities. Instead of focusing on finding better algorithms for tracing curves, a simple coordinate-free method that first traces these curves in a distance space and then maps them onto the mechanism workspace is proposed. Tracing a coupler curve in the proposed distance space is much simpler because (a) the equation of this curve in this space can be straightforwardly obtained from a sequence of bilaterations; and (b) the curve in this space naturally decomposes into branches in which the signs of the oriented areas of the triangles involved in the aforementioned bilaterations remain constant. A surjective mapping permits to map the thus traced curves onto the workspace of the mechanism. The advantages of this two-step method are exemplified by tracing the coupler curves of a double butterfly linkage, curves that can reach order 48.