An Automated Procedure for Dimensional Synthesis of Planar Mechanisms

Abstract

This paper describes the basic principles for the development of an automated planar mechanism dimensional synthesis procedure. The procedure generates the synthesis equations by imposing length constraint along with the constraints of the motion program. The synthesis equations are formulated in a quadratic form. A numerical algorithm designed to solve the systems of quadratic algebraic equations is developed. The algorithm is based on a combination of steepest descent and the second order Newton-Raphson methods. A six-bar and an eight-bar mechanisms were synthesized using the development presented in this paper.