Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms

Construction of a Skew Pantograph Leg Mechanism

Construction of a Skew Pantograph Leg Mechanism

This video adds a skew pantograph to a four-bar linkage in order…
Construction of Klann-style Leg Mechanism

Construction of Klann-style Leg Mechanism

In this video, we start with a four-bar linkage and coupler curve…
Construction of a Translating Link for a Leg Mechanism

Construction of a Translating Link for a Leg Mechanism

This video starts with a four-bar linkage with a coupler curve…
Construction of the Cubic of Stationary Curvature for a Four-bar Linkage

Construction of the Cubic of Stationary Curvature for a Four-bar Linkage

This video shows the construction of the cubic of stationary…
Construction of the Inflection Circle for a Four-Bar Linkage

Construction of the Inflection Circle for a Four-Bar Linkage

This tutorial constructs the inflection circle for a particular…
Construction of the Canonical Coordinate System for a Four-Bar Linkage

Construction of the Canonical Coordinate System for a Four-Bar Linkage

This tutorial shows how to use Geogebra to construct the canonical…
Walking Robot Student Project

Walking Machine Class Projects: Ohio State ME 5751

Prof Haijun Su at Ohio State University had his students design…
Sphinx and Sphere VR and the History of Kinematic Synthesis

Sphinx and Sphere VR and the History of Kinematic Synthesis

Our Sphinx software was the first computer-aided design system…
LINCAGES

LINCAGES and the History of Kinematic Synthesis

The linkage design software developed by Art Erdman and his…
KinSyn and the History of Kinematic Synthesis

KinSyn and the History of Kinematic Synthesis

My first experience with computer based kinematic synthesis was…
DIYWalkers

Strider and TrotBot at DIYWalkers.com

Just after I published my book Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms…
About Geogebra PageJMM

About Geogebra-Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms

The animated four-bar linkage FHJD is constructed using dimensions…
Chapter 6 Title PageJMM

Chapter 6 Animations-Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms

Here are the eight Movies in Chapter 6 of Kinematic Synthesis…
Chapter 5 Title PageJMM

Chapter 5 Animations-Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms

Here are the four Movies in Chapter 5 of Kinematic Synthesis…
Chapter 4 Title PageJMM

Chapter 4 Animations-Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms

Here are the four Movies in Chapter 4 of Kinematic Synthesis…

Machine Design

Timing Belt Theory

Timing belt theory

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ThomasNet provides a link to a useful white paper on Timing Belt…
Gearing

Gear geometry

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Gear geometry data is available from PIC Design Inc. which is…
Colorado Videos

Mechanisms videos at Colorado State

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Prof. David Alciatore has a large number of videos illustrating…
Fasteners

Machine screw dimensions

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According to Shigley and Mischke's Mechanical Engineering Design…
Diesel Engine Animation

Diesel Engine Animations

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This are two animation of the operation of a diesel engine.  The…
Engine Animation

Engine Animation

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This YouTube animation shows the animated assembly of a solid…

Lecture Notes

KMODDL Tour

Kinematic models for design

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The KMODDL team at Cornell University maintains an excellent…

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Linkage Synthesis Theory


The mathematical synthesis of linkage movement provides a powerful tool for invention. However, the specified task may not have useful solutions, and the search for successful tasks can be discouraging.

To address this, we automate the search and evaluation process within tolerance zones specified by the designer.  These Mathematica notebooks implement our approach to finding defect-free four-bar linkage designs.


RR Constraint Synthesis for Function Generation

Synthesis of an RR Constraint

Synthesis of an RR Constraint

An important technique in kinematic synthesis is the design of an RR constraint that controls the movement of two joints of an existing serial chain. For a given RR serial chain, like OA shown above, we can specify its movement through five required task positions. This provides the information needed to design an RR constraint, GW above, that ensures the system moves through the required task positions.

This technique is called function generation in the kinematics synthesis literature, because the synthesized RR constraint maintains a specified relationship between the joint angles alpha and beta at joints O and A.

RR-Constraint-Synthesis

Select this link to download our Mathematica notebook: RR-Constraint Synthesis. It uses a given RR chain and the associated task to determine tolerance zones, where it searches for defect-free designs.  As above, this file may download as text file so remove the .txt extension, then it should be readable by Mathematica. If you have any questions, please contact me.


Five-Position Synthesis of a Four-bar Linkage

Here we show a four-bar linkage designed to guide the coupler through five required task positions.

Please download and try our updated Mathematica notebook: Five-Position Synthesis. It searches in the vicinity of the required task for sets of positions that yield defect-free four-bar linkages.  It may download as textfile so remove the .txt extension, then it should be readable by Mathematica.

The video below shows the operation of this notebook.

If you have any problems or advice, please contact me.