Design and analysis of an active 2-DOF lockable joint

Abstract

This article presents a new design of a 2-DOF active lockable joint, which can be applied in parallel reconfigurable manipulators as well as in other applications such as haptic devices. The direct and inverse kinematic problems of the proposed joint were considered in detail, and the kinematic features of the input cranks are presented. Velocity equations, Jacobians, and singular positions of the joint were thoroughly considered. The workspace of the joint was analyzed by utilizing performance indices. A quasi-static analysis was carried out, providing the output force distribution along the workspace. The finite element simulation was carried out in Ansys Workbench, in order to identify the most loaded parts of the joint and verify its strength. A prototype, manufactured using 3D printing, has proven the functionality of the concept. The prototype was used as a haptic device in order to control a five-bar flexible parallel manipulator, which was being developed by the CompMech research group.

Keywords:

• Parallel manipulator
• reconfigurable
• active joint
• haptic device

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Spanish Government through the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Project DPI2015-67626-P (MINECO/FEDER, UE)) and it has also received financial support from the research group through the project with Ref. IT949-16, given by the Departamento de Educación, Política Lingüística y Cultura of the Regional Government of the Basque Country.