A QUALITATIVE SURVEY OF RECONFIGURABLE MECHANISMS WITH INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS

摘要

In the field of reconfigurable mechanisms, many ingenious designs have been built and analyzed, however very few have been implemented in industry. An analogous comparison of re-configurable mechanisms to James Watt's straight line mechanism is explored to suggest as to why there is a shortage of re-configurable mechanisms being used. A qualitative survey was undertaken to examine existing mechanisms currently being used and to identify potential applications for reconfigurable mechanisms. Eleven manufacturing plants were visited to identify high frequency motion profiles. From this survey, motion profiles were selected for potential applications of reconfigurable mechanisms. One of the motion profiles, platform transfer, was selected from a possible four identified motion profiles. A proposed reconfigurable mechanism was designed to perform the platform transfer task. The joint of the mechanism consists of two R2P2 joints connected by a P2 joint.