Number Synthesis of Metamorphic Mechanisms using Subgraph Constraints

MARTÍN PUCHETA; AGOSTINO BUTTI; VALERIO TAMELLINI; ALBERTO CARDONA; LUCA GHEZZI

Valencia

Simposio; MUSME 2011, the International Symposium on Multibody Systems and Mechatronics; 2011

Universidad de Valencia

A metamorphic mechanism has the capacity of changing its topology and configuration under different operation conditions. This paper presents a systematic method for the topological synthesis of mechanisms taking into account metamorphic transformations of links and changes in the degrees-of-freedom (DOF). The method is based on Graph Theory concepts and can be applied to the design and re-design of mechanisms satisfying complex metamorphic requirements. The topological design space is represented by an atlas of graphs of simple-jointed mechanisms. The parts to move, with input and output motion defined, are also represented by a graph and this graph is searched inside an atlas. For the first time, the topological requirements involving link transformations are expressed in terms of subgraphs or submechanisms with a given DOF containing prescribed input and output parts. The algorithm executes two subgraph searches inside atlases of mechanisms with different DOFs. An application to the design of a family of low-voltage circuit-breaker mechanisms is shown.