Optimal synthesis of six-bar cammed-linkages for exact rigid-body guidance

The paper proposes a method for the synthesis of cam-integrated six-bar linkages (cammed-linkage) for tasks of exact rigid-body guidance. As a first step, a three degrees of freedom (d.o.f.) six-bar linkage is generated. Two cam-follower mechanisms are then synthesized in order to reduce the system's mobility and to obtain a single-input cammed-linkage. The final combined mechanism is able to rigidly guide the coupler through any number of precision configurations. A strategy for the optimization of the synthesis process, based on evolutionary theory, is also proposed. Dimensional and kinematic performance criteria and constraints are used to define a goal function, while a genetic algorithm is employed as optimum searching procedure. Two examples of motion generation problems are used to describe the proposed synthesis methodology and to prove, through kinematic simulations, its effectiveness. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.