A PC implemented kinematic synthesis system for planar linkages

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to develop a PC implemented kinematic synthesis system for four-bar and six-bar planar linkages using Turbo Pascal.

CYPRUS is an interactive program that calculates and displays graphically the designed four-bar and six-bar linkages. This package can be used for three and four position synthesis of path generation, path generation with input timing, body guidance, and body guidance with input timing linkages. The package can also be used for function generation linkages where the user may enter a set of angle pairs or choose one of the following functions: tangent, cosine, sine, exponential, logarithmic, and natural logarithmic. The above syntheses can be combined to design linkages that produce more complex motion.

For each kinematic synthesis case the code calculates a certain number of solutions. Then the designer chooses the most suitable solution for the particular application at hand. After a mechanism is synthesized, it can be animated for a check of the mechanical action. Watching this animation allows the designer to judge criteria such as clearances, forces, velocities and acceleration of the moving links.

The software operates on an IBM PC or any other PC compatible. The language used is Turbo Pascal, an extremely effective tool and one of the fastest high level languages in compilation and execution time.