A numerical method for the second-order mobility analysis of mechanisms

Abstract

The second order mobility analysis of mechanisms is a complicated problem that can be approached in a direct way via the analysis of the compatibility of the acceleration field. This paper will present a simple, numerical approach to retrieve the restrictions imposed to the movement that are derived from the second order (curvature) restrictions. This algorithm can be easily applied to bi and three dimensional mechanisms and delivers a good degree of efficiency. The results of this analysis can be employed to improve the efficiency of other algorithms which present lack of convergence in the vicinity of singular configurations. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009.