Realization of Statically Balanced Articulated Mechanisms and Scotch Yoke Type Balancers

Abstract

Although numerous gravity balancing schemes had been developed, not too many statically balanced, spatial, articulated mechanisms had been practically implemented. Followed by the brief depiction on the underlined concept of the Scotch yoke type gravity balancer and the virtual-ground scheme, this study emphasizes on the practical design of such a spatial, articulated mechanism and the balancers that it uses. Evolution of our gravity balancer designs is presented and the design issues are discussed. Design problems of the current spatial model are revealed and suggestions for the design improvements of the future models are also included.