Due to their advantageous of high stiffness, high speed, large load carrying capacity and complicated surface processing ability, PKMs (Parallel Kinematic Manipulators) have been applied to machine tools. This paper mainly addresses the issue of stiffness formulation of a three-prismatic- revolute-spherical PKM (3-PRS PKM). The manipulators consist of three kinematic limbs of identical topology structure, and each limb is composed of an actuated prismatic-revolute-spherical. In order to build up the stiffness model, kinematics, Jacobian and finite element analysis are also performed as the basis. Main works in this paper can be outlined as follows. By use of approaches of vector, inverse position analysis of 3-PRS PKM is conducted. When the independent position and orientation parameters of the end-effectors are provided, the translational distances of active prismatic joints can be determined. Then with the aid of the wrench and reciprocal screw theory, the overall Jacobian of this manipulator is formulated quickly, and which is a six by six dimensional matrix and can reflect all information about actuation and constraint singularity. After for- mulating the position analysis and Jacobian matrix, the next step is stiffness analysis. Analytical stiffness model, a function of Jacobian matrix and components stiffness matrix, is obtained first using the principle of virtual work. Stiffness model is also a six by six dimensional matrix and can provide the information of actuation and constraint stiffness simultaneously. For the complex geometry shape of some components, it is impossible to know their stiffness distributions with the varying configuration. Therefore, ANSYS technology has to be applied to compute the stiffness coefficients of these components at different configurations. Then, the computed data are used to obtain the stiffness distribution by use of the numerical fitting method. Up to now, the semi-ana- lytical stiffness model of the manipulator is completely formulated and can be applied to estimate the system stiffness of 3-PRS PKM. The model enables the stiffness of a 3-PRS PKM to be quickly estimated. Provided with the geometry parameters and load situation on tool tip, the stiffness of 3-PRS PKM system is estimated based on the stiffness matrix about tool tip which is obtained by transforming the point from the center of circle composed of three S joints to the tool tip. Then, the stiffness of system along x, y and z directions can be solved. In order to testify the correctness, the corresponding stiffness is also obtained by use of FEA software. The stress distribution and fre- quency of system are also gained by solving the FEA model.
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