Compliant parallel mechanisms/manipulators (CPMs) are parallel manipulators that
transmit motion/load by deformation of their compliant members. Due to their merits
such as the eliminated backlash and friction, no need for lubrication, reduced wear and
noise, and monolithic configuration, they have been used in many emerging
applications as scanning tables, bio-cell injectors, nano-positioners, and etc.
How to design large-range CPMs is still a challenging issue. To meet the needs for
large-range translational CPMs for high-precision motion stages, this thesis focuses on
the systematic conceptual design and modelling of large-range translational CPMs with
distributed-compliance.
Firstly, several compliant parallel modules with distributed-compliance, such as
spatial multi-beam modules, are identified as building blocks of translational CPMs. A
normalized, nonlinear and analytical model is then derived for the spatial multi-beam
modules to address the non-linearity of load-equilibrium equations. Secondly, a new
design methodology for translational CPMs is presented. The main characteristic of the
proposed design approach is not only to replace kinematic joints as in the literature, but
also to replace kinematic chains with appropriate multiple degrees-of-freedom (DOF)
compliant parallel modules. Thirdly, novel large-range translational CPMs are
constructed using the proposed design methodology and identified compliant parallel
modules. The proposed novel CPMs include, for example, a 1-DOF compliant parallel
gripper with auto-adaptive grasping function, a stiffness-enhanced XY CPM with a
spatial compliant leg, and an improved modular XYZ CPM using identical spatial
double four-beam modules. Especially, the proposed XY CPM and XYZ CPM can
achieve a 10mm’s motion range along each axis in the case studies. Finally,
kinematostatic modelling of the proposed translational CPMs is presented to enable
rapid performance characteristic analysis. The proposed analytical models are also
compared with finite element analysis
