Compliant members in flexible link mechanisms undergo large deflections when subjected to external loads. Because of this fact, traditional methods of deflection analysis do not apply. Since the nonlinearities introduced by these large deflections make the system comprising such members difficult to solve, parametric deflection approximations are deemed helpful in the analysis and synthesis of compliant mechanisms. This is accomplished by representing the compliant mechanism as a pseudo-rigid-body model. A wealth of analysis and synthesis techniques available for rigid-body mechanisms thus become amenable to the design of compliant mechanisms. In this paper, a pseudo-rigid-body model is developed and solved for the tip deflection of flexible beams for combined end loads. A numerical integration technique using quadrature formulae has been employed to solve the large deflection Bernoulli-Euler beam equation for the tip deflection. Implementation of this scheme is simpler than the elliptic integral formulation and provides very accurate results. An example for the synthesis of a compliant mechanism using the proposed model is also presented.
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September 1998
Research Papers
A Simple and Accurate Method for Determining Large Deflections in Compliant Mechanisms Subjected to End Forces and Moments
A. Saxena,
A. Saxena
University of Pennsylvania, Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Philadelphia, PA 19104
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S. N. Kramer
S. N. Kramer
The University of Toledo Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Toledo, OH, 43606
Search for other works by this author on:
A. Saxena
University of Pennsylvania, Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Philadelphia, PA 19104
S. N. Kramer
The University of Toledo Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Toledo, OH, 43606
J. Mech. Des. Sep 1998, 120(3): 392-400 (9 pages)
Published Online: September 1, 1998
Article history
Received:
June 1, 1997
Revised:
May 1, 1998
Online:
December 11, 2007
Citation
Saxena, A., and Kramer, S. N. (September 1, 1998). "A Simple and Accurate Method for Determining Large Deflections in Compliant Mechanisms Subjected to End Forces and Moments." ASME. J. Mech. Des. September 1998; 120(3): 392–400. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2829164
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