INTEGRATED KINEMATIC AND DYNAMIC OPTIMAL DESIGN OF FLEXIBLE PLANAR MECHANISMS.

The following describes a new integrated approach to the problem of designing high speed mechanisms. Employing a nonlinear programming formulation, it allows both the kinematic parameters and the link cross sections to vary while simultaneously bounding trajectory accuracy and minimizing the disturbing force on the ground. Furthermore, link stresses are bounded to limits imposed by the designer. The technique is capable of taking into account the complex coupling which exists between kinematic and dynamic characteristics in flexible mechanisms to determine linkage parameters which best satisfy a given set of design requirements. A path synthesis problem is used to illustrate the technique.