Study of the hinge thickness deviation for a 316L parallelogram flexure mechanism fabricated via selective laser melting

3D printing offers great potential for developing complex flexure mechanisms. Recently, thickness-correction factors (TCFs) were introduced to correct the thickness and stiffness deviations of powder-based metal 3D printed flexure hinges during design and analysis. However, the reasons for the different TCFs obtained in each study are not clear, resulting in a limited value of these TCFs for future design and fabrication. Herein, the influence of the porous layer of 3D printed flexure hinges on the hinge thickness is investigated. Samples of parallelogram flexure mechanisms (PFMs) were 3D printed using selective laser melting (SLM) and 316L stainless steel powder. A 3D manufacturing error analysis was completed for each PFM sample via 3D scanning, surface roughness measurement and morphological observation. The thickness of the porous layer of the flexure hinge was independent of the designed hinge thickness and remained close to the average powder particle diameter. The effective hinge thickness could be estimated by subtracting twice the value of the porous layer thickness from the designed value. Guidelines based on finite element analysis and stiffness experiments are proposed. The limitations of the presented method for evaluating the effective hinge thickness of flexure hinges 3D printed via SLM are also discussed.

     

Experimental Analysis of Variable Collective-pitch Rotor Systems for Multirotor Helicopter Applications

This paper presents an experimental study of variable collective-pitch rotor systems for multirotor helicopter applications. An experimental research facility has been established to conduct this research. The facility enables the high-resolution measurement of forces and torques produced by rotor systems. The power consumption of the rotor system during experimentation can also be recorded. The experimental research facility also allows for the characterisation of the effect of rotor systems on multirotor helicopter performance. It is shown that the variable collective-pitch rotors have a significant performance advantage over fixed-pitch rotors when comparing thrust response, and multirotor helicopter step input response performance. Further, it is observed that variable collective-pitch rotors are more efficient in terms of energy consumption than comparable fixed-pitch rotors under similar operating conditions.     

Fabrication process of open surfaces by robotic fibre placement

Composite materials are being used extensively in many industrial sectors. They offer excellent material properties compared to other structural materials available. However, the traditional fabrication process using manual hand lay-up is time consuming and labour intensive. Therefore, robotic fibre placement has been introduced to overcome these drawbacks. This approach may greatly reduce cycle time and manufacturing costs. This paper describes the overall strategy for the establishment of a flexible robotic fibre placement technique. The fabrication process planning of this new technique is presented. Three different types of fibre placement for open surfaces are discussed. These include simulation-based fibre path generation, fibre steering, and sensory-based contour following methodologies. The system architecture for the process control is also presented.     

Dynamic analysis of reconfigurable fixture construction by a manipulator

In a reconfigurable workholding system, the precise manipulation of fixture mechanisms by robot manipulators is performed against external kinematic constraints. Automation of such tasks requires development of dynamic model that can be utilised for establishment of control strategies. The sliding lower pairs form the basic structure of the fixture mechanisms; thus dynamic analysis of adjustment operations on sliding pairs becomes essential. In this paper, four types of fixture mechanisms for the reconfigurable workholding system are briefly presented. Sliding pairs are identified and briefly described as the basic structure of fixture mechanisms. Geometric and dynamic analyses for robotic adjustment of sliding pairs with built-in compliance are presented. The requirements to successfully perform the height adjustment of such sliding pairs with various geometric parameters are discussed. By taking into consideration the inertial forces and moments, constraint inequalities are obtained to ensure jam-free condition on sliding pairs during adjustment operations. Generalised inequalities for wedge-free condition are also developed and presented. In addition, the dynamic adjustment algorithms are discussed.     

Dynamic modelling of a flexure-based mechanism for ultra-precision grinding operation

This paper presents the dynamic modelling and performance evaluation methodologies of a flexure-base mechanism for ultra-precision grinding operation. The mechanical design of the mechanism is briefly described. A piezoelectric actuator is utilized to drive the moving platform. A flexure-based structure is utilized to guide the moving platform and to provide preload for the piezoelectric actuator. By simplifying the Hertzian contact as a linear spring and damping component, a bilinear dynamic model is developed to investigate the dynamic characteristics of the flexure-based mechanism. Based on the established model, the separation phenomenon between the moving platform and the piezoelectric actuator is analyzed. The influences of the control voltage and the preload stiffness on the maximum overshoot are extensively investigated. The slope and cycloidal command signals are utilized to reduce and/or avoid the overshoot of such flexure-based mechanism for rapid positioning. The effects of the rising time of the command signals on the maximum overshoot and the settling time are also explored. Experiments are performed to verify the established dynamic model and the performance of the developed flexure-based mechanism.     

Optimum dynamic balancing of planar parallel manipulators based on sensitivity analysis

This paper addresses the optimum dynamic balancing of planar parallel manipulators exemplified with a 2 DOF parallel manipulator articulated with revolute joints. The dynamic balancing is formulated as an optimisation problem such that while the shaking force balancing is accomplished through analytically obtained balancing constraints, an objective function based on the sensitivity analysis of shaking moment with respect to the position, velocity and acceleration of the links is used to minimise the shaking moment. Sets of optimisation results corresponding to various combinations of the elements of the objective function are evaluated in order to quantify their influence on the resulting shaking moment, ground forces and the driving torques. The results prove that the proposed optimisation approach can be used to completely eliminate the shaking force and to minimise the shaking moment transmitted to the frame of the parallel mechanism. For parallel manipulators or mechanisms with higher degrees of freedom, for which it is virtually impossible to obtain shaking force balancing conditions analytically, we propose an alternative constrained optimisation procedure. This procedure is based on the fact that while the magnitude of either the shaking force or the shaking moment can be bounded through including a set of constraints in the optimisation algorithm, the sensitivities of the other, either those of the shaking force or the shaking moment, can be minimised.     

Design and forward kinematics of the compliant micro-manipulator with lever mechanisms

This paper presents the forward kinematics of a five-bar compliant micro-manipulator. To overcome the limited displacement of such a flexure-based mechanism driven by piezoelectric actuators, lever mechanisms are utilized to enlarge the working range. The mechanical design of the micro-manipulator is firstly described. Mathematical formulations for the five-bar mechanism are described and the solutions are developed to decide the end-effector position in Cartesian space. The amplification factor of the lever mechanism is also derived based on the analytical solution of the four-bar linkages. The velocity of the end-effector is obtained by differentiating the forward position kinematic equation, and the local mobility index of the five-bar compliant mechanism is determined and analysed. Based on linearization of trigonometric functions and constant Jacobian matrix, numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the performance of the five-bar compliant manipulator and to determine the optimal geometric parameters for the configuration. The comparisons between the exact solution and simplified methodologies are conducted. Experiments are carried out to validate the established model and the performance of the developed micro-manipulator.     

Soft tissue deformation with reaction-diffusion process for surgery simulation

This paper presents a new methodology to conduct modelling and analysis of soft tissue deformation from the physicochemical viewpoint of soft tissues for surgery simulation. The novelty of this methodology is that soft tissue deformation is converted into a reaction-diffusion process coupled with a mechanical load, and thus reaction-diffusion of mechanical load and non-rigid mechanics of motion are combined to govern the dynamics of soft tissue deformation. The mechanical load applied to a soft tissue to cause a deformation is incorporated into the reaction-diffusion system and consequently distributed among mass points of the soft tissue. An improved reaction-diffusion model is developed to describe the distribution of the mechanical load in the tissue. A generic finite difference scheme is presented for construction of the reaction-diffusion model on a 3D tissue surface. A gradient method is established for derivation of internal forces from the distribution of the mechanical load. Real-time interactive deformation of virtual human organs with haptic feedback has been achieved by the proposed methodology for surgery simulation. The proposed methodology not only accommodates isotropic, anisotropic and inhomogeneous materials by simply modifying diffusion coefficients, but also accepts local and large-range deformations simultaneously.     

Trajectory generation for open-contoured structures in robotic fibre placement

Composites have become common engineering materials in industries where the strength to weight performance of structures is a key design consideration. The major limiting factors are the high-manufacturing costs and low-production rates. Robotic fibre placement (RFP) is one alternative process to overcome the limiting factors and it is generally suitable for open-continuous components. A novel path planning algorithm for open-contoured structures, entitled the surface curve algorithm for robotic fibre placement (SCAR) is proposed. The algorithm aims to produce a uniform lay-up of composite lamina, without gap and overlap between subsequent tows. A numerical investigation into the characteristics of the algorithm is performed and presented. The algorithm is implemented on complex contoured surface and some of the results are presented in this paper.