A study on completely computer-assisted kinematic analysis of planar link mechanisms

For the purpose of complete computerization of the kinematic analysis of planar mechanisms, an iterative process of analysis has been determined by means of incidence matrices of prime structures. The prime structures have been defined as the structures composed of pin-jointed links that cannot be derived from other structures, and some of them have been introduced together with positional relations of their joints. Moreover, it is shown that kinematic analyses can also be carried out by means of the prime structures.