Optimal Synthesis of six bar Mechanism using Particle Swarm Optimization

Abstract

This paper presents the optimal synthesis of a six-bar Watt-II mechanism with rotational joints in which a tracing point on the coupler traces a desired path. The objective of the work is to synthesize a six-bar mechanism whose coupler point generates the path as close to the given path as possible. The tracing path is the combination of two circular arcs with eighteen precision points with prescribed timing. A mathematical model is formed by two vector loop closure equations, and design constrained are imposed to improve the result quality. ‘Particle Swarm Optimization’ (PSO), an evolutionary technique, is used to obtain the optimal solution of the given six bar mechanism at first time, which has been used by various authors in case of four bar mechanism. Final design parameters and convergence rate of the optimal solutions are presented.