Limit Positions of Compliant Mechanisms Using the Pseudo-Rigid-Body Model Concept

Mechanisms which gain some or all of their motion from the relative flexibility of their members rather than from rigid-body joints alone are called compliant mechanisms. Determination of a compliant mechanism's kinematic mobility, including its degrees of freedom and limit positions, is complicated by geometric nonlinearities due to large deflections and the dependency of deflection on the placement and magnitude of applied loads. This paper introduces a method for determining the limit positions of compliant mechanisms for which an appropriate pseudo-rigid-body model may be created.