Structural synthesis of a class of 2R2T hybrid mechanisms

Conventional overconstrained parallel manipulators have been widely studied both in industry and academia, however the structural synthesis of hybrid mechanisms with additional constraints is seldom studied, especially for the four degrees of freedom(DOF) hybrid mechanisms. In order to develop a manipulator with additional constraints, a class of important spatial mechanisms with coupling chains(CCs) whose motion type is two rotations and two translations(2R2T) is presented. Based on screw theory, the combination of different types of limbs which are used to construct parallel mechanisms and coupling chains is proposed. The basic types of the general parallel mechanisms and geometric conditions of the kinematic chains are given using constraint synthesis method. Moreover, the 2R2T motion pattern hybrid mechanisms which are derived by adding coupling chains between different serial kinematic chains(SKCs) of the corresponding parallel mechanisms are presented. According to the constraint analysis of the mechanisms, the movement relationship of the moving platform and the kinematic chains is derived by disassembling the coupling chains. At last, fourteen novel hybrid mechanisms with two or three serial kinematic chains are presented. The proposed novel hybrid mechanisms and construction method enrich the family of the spatial mechanisms and provide an instruction to design more complex hybrid mechanisms.