Topology and mobility variations of a novel redundant reconfigurable parallel mechanism

Abstract

In this paper, a novel redundant reconfigurable parallel manipulator is proposed, which can be changed into three reconfigured structures. First, the mechanism structure and reconfigurable kinematic limb are described, and the constraint system applied on the moving platform is obtained. Then, the mobility of the mechanism and the connectivity between moving platform and fixed base are calculated, including the reconfigured structure. Also, a new connectivity criterion is proposed for such parallel mechanism in reconfigured structure. Finally, the possible three reconfigured structures are analyzed. Different reconfigured structure results in different topology, mobility and connectivity.