High-Speed Mechanism Design—A General Analytical Approach

A general method of kineto-elastodynamic design is developed and illustrated with examples. With this method, mechanisms with elastic links can be designed in a systematic way for a desired performance at high speeds. This is achieved by first performing the kinematic synthesis of the mechanism considering its links to be rigid, and then proportioning the areas of cross section of the links optimally to account for kineto-elastodynamic effects. Design optimization with respect to stress level, mass distribution and elastic deflections is performed by imposing constraints on dynamic stresses in every link and on the deflections of the path or function generating links throughout the range of motion. The optimization problem is formulated in terms of nonlinear programming techniques. Numerical examples are presented. The KED design procedure, which is developed and demonstrated here by way of several examples, is believed to be the first method of this kind for a completely elastic mechanism.