Kinematic analysis of geared linkage mechanisms (Q2583751)

The authors present a general approach to the kinematic analysis of planar geared linkage mechanisms (GLM). The kinematic equations and analytic solutions are first derived for commonly used kinematic units, the simple and dyad links. Tricolored graphs, introduced to express the topological relationship between joints and links in a GLM, and their mathematical expressions, are employed for the structural decomposition of a general GLM. Criteria for the structural decomposition are established. A universal procedure for the kinematic analysis of the position, velocity and acceleration of GLMs is established, and an application program is developed by which the whole procedure from the structural decomposition to the kinematic analysis can be performed on computer, for any GLM. Some numerical examples illustrate the procedure. This approach provides a sound basis for the analysis of kinematic properties of GLMs.