Optimum Path Synthesis of a Geared Five-Bar Mechanism

Most studies on path synthesis problems are to trace simple or smooth trajectories. In this work, an optimum synthesis for several special trajectories generated by a geared five-bar mechanism is studied using the one-phase synthesis method. The synthesis problem for the special trajectories, which is originally studied using the two-phase synthesis method discussed in the literature, is a real challenge due to very few dimensionally proportioned mechanisms that can generate the special trajectories. The challenging special trajectories with up to 41 discrete points include a self-overlapping curve, nonsmooth curves with straight segments and vertices, and sophisticated shapes. The error function of the square deviation of positions is used as the objective function and the GA-DE evolutionary algorithm is used to solve the optimization problems. Findings show that the proposed method can obtain approximately matched trajectories at the cost of a tremendous number of evaluations of the objective function. Therefore, the challenging problems may serve as the benchmark problems to test the effectiveness and efficiency of synthesis methods and/or optimization algorithms. All the synthesized solutions have been validated using the animation of the SolidWorks assembly so that the obtained mechanisms are sound and usable

Trajectory optimization of a walking mechanism having revolute joints with clearance using ANFIS approach

Clearance as a real joint characteristic leads to deviation from desired trajectory in articulated mechanisms. This phenomenon makes the kinematic and dynamic performances of the mechanism worse. In this study, kinematic analysis of a Jansen's mechanism used in a walking machine is performed. The model mechanism having two revolute joints with clearance is investigated for the trajectory analysis of the output link. It is clear that the mechanism's trajectory is very sensitive to the clearance joint characteristics even if the clearance size is small. The adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is used to model the characteristics of joints with clearance. By using the suitable design variables and constraints, minimization of the trajectory errors arising from clearance is considered as an optimization problem. Optimization techniques are used to solve this problem for adjusting the optimum values of design variables. The obtained link dimensions show the success of the proposed modeling and optimization approach.Clearance as a real joint characteristic leads to deviation from desired trajectory in articulated mechanisms. This phenomenon makes the kinematic and dynamic performances of the mechanism worse. In this study, kinematic analysis of a Jansen’s mechanism used in a walking machine is performed. The model mechanism having two revolute joints with clearance is investigated for the trajectory analysis of the output link. It is clear that the mechanism’s trajectory is very sensitive to the clearance joint characteristics even if the clearance size is small. The adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is used to model the characteristics of joints with clearance. By using the suitable design variables and constraints, minimization of the trajectory errors arising from clearance is considered as an optimization problem. Optimization techniques are used to solve this problem for adjusting the optimum values of design variables. The obtained link dimensions show the success of the proposed modeling and optimization approach