Stiffness Analysis of a Low-DOF Parallel Manipulator including the Elastic Deformations of Both Joints and Links (ICCAS 2005)

This paper presents a stiffness analysis method for a low-DOF parallel manipulator, which takes into account of elastic deformations of joints and links. A low-DOF parallel manipulator is defined as a spatial parallel manipulator which has less than six degrees of freedom. Differently from the case of a 6-DOF parallel manipulator, the serial chains in a low-DOF parallel manipulator are subject to constraint forces as well as actuation forces. The reaction forces due to actuations and constraints in each limb can be determined by making use of the theory of reciprocal screws. It is shown that the stiffness model of an F-DOF parallel manipulator consists of F springs related to the reciprocal screws of actuations and 6-F springs related to the reciprocal screws of constraints, which connect the moving platform to the fixed base in parallel. The $6{times}6$ stiffness matrix is derived, which is the sum of the stiffness matrices of actuations and constraints. The six spring constants can be precisely determined by modeling the compliance of joints and links in a serial chain as follows; the link can be considered as an Euler beam and the stiffness matrix of rotational or prismatic joint can be modeled as a $6{times}6$ diagonal matrix, where one diagonal element about the rotation axis or along the sliding direction is zero. By summing the elastic deformations in joints and links, the compliance matrix of a serial chain is obtained. Finally, applying the reciprocal screws to the compliance matrix of a serial chain, the compliance values of springs can be determined. As an example of explaining the procedure, the stiffness of the Tricept parallel manipulator has been analyzed.