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AbstractA motion generation method for a planar four-bar mechanism without prescribed timing is proposed in this article. A characteristic of coupler points is found: for the coupler points of a four-bar mechanism in a standard installation position rotated by the corresponding input angle clockwise around the origin of the Cartesian coordinate system xOy, the generated points lie on the feature coupler circles. Next, based on this, the design process is divided into three steps. In the first step, the relative input angles, the relative coupler angles and five geometric parameters of the desired four-bar mechanism are optimized. In the second step, the basic dimensional types and initial input angle are determined, and then, the input angles are obtained. In the third step, the real size of the desired linkage mechanism is calculated. Because the dimension of the design variables in each step is exceptionally small, the motion synthesis method can yield design solutions with high precision in a short time. Six comparison examples are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method. In addition, the method is used to design a robot for lower limb rehabilitation for application to the human foot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents two types of new deployable mechanisms based on the motion characteristics of the four-bar slider–crank mechanism (FBSCM): the prism mechanism with constant cross-section and the round deployable mechanism. A new basic planar deployable unit based on the path-generating characteristics of the FBSCM is proposed. The method of building a deployable mast unit with one DOF from the new planar deployable mechanism is given. The prism mechanism with constant cross-section of one DOF is constructed, and the magnification ratio is analyzed. Moreover, the deployable unit with a negative Poisson's ratio for building the round deployable mechanism based on the properties of functional output of the FBSCM is proposed. The structure of the round deployable mechanism is described, and the parameter model with multilevel deployment is calculated and validated with cases given; the DOF of the round deployable mechanism is one. Last, the static analysis of the round deployable mechanism is studied by simulation; by locking 6 guide rails, the structure is found to have a balanced bearing capacity, and the bearing performance is improved compared with locking only one guide rail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the simplified mapping model of the geometric characteristics of a cobweb structure, a new umbrella-type deployable mechanism with a planar four-bar crank slider mechanism as the deployable unit is proposed. First, the model is statically analyzed and optimized using the Ansys Workbench software, and the optimal ratio of the spiral thread spacing in the model is determined. Additionally, the stiffness matrix of the cobweb rigid frame model is established, and the optimal angle between the spiral threads is determined using the matrix displacement method. Then, according to the optimized model angle and ratio, a new umbrella-type deployable mechanism is proposed, and its static performance is simulated and analyzed. The results show that the strength of the umbrella-type developable mechanism is improved, and the movement process is simulated to verify the effectiveness of the model deployment and folding process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]