Connectivity Calculation-Based Automatic Synthesis of Planar Multi-Loop Mechanisms

Abstract The creative design of kinematic structures with excellent performance remains an open issue in the quest for developing novel multi-loop mechanisms. This study presents an automatic method to synthesize all nonisomorphic planar multi-loop mechanisms satisfying the required connectivity between the base and the end-effector. First, based on the connectivity matrix calculation, all multi-loop mechanisms are generated from synthesized kinematic chains. Second, the concepts of perimeter, canonical, and characteristic graphs of multi-color topological graphs are addressed to acquire the simplified characteristic hybrid code (SCHC) in order to eliminate isomorphic multi-loop mechanisms. Then, an automatic method to synthesize all nonisomorphic planar multi-loop mechanisms with the required connectivity between the base and the end-effector is provided. Finally, a practical application of this synthesis method is illustrated by taking the mechanical arm of a face-shovel hydraulic excavator as an example to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method.