The Basic Theory On Modular And Reconfigurable Parallel Manipulator

This paper studies the parallel manipulator from the point of modularization and reconfiguration. The pairs and the legs of parallel manipulator are studied and modularized. A new construction theory of parallel manipulator is put forward. Using the theory and the modules, a series of modular reconfigurable parallel manipulator are build up. The method of manipulator analysising is also modularized.The parallel manipulator is composed of legs, the fixed platform, the moving platform, so the innovation of new parallel mechanism should be starting from analysis of the legs. In this paper, we classify the pairs into two kinds-- traditional pairs and new composite pairs. The composite pair's coming forth made it easier to invent new type parallel manipulator. On the base of the new pairs, we constructed a series of legs having specific kinematic characteristic, varying from two Degree-Of-Freedom (DOF) to six DOF. As it is well known, the constructing of parallel is very difficult, there is still no theory that can explain the common parallel manipulator's DOF and the moving characteristic. We bring forward a new useful construction theory that can calculate and analyze the DOF and the kinematic characteristic of parallel manipulator with Composite pairs.In this paper, the mechanismic module of modular and reconfigurable parallel is classified into three basic modules, the fixed platform module, the moving platform module and the leg module. The structure of the fixed platform module and the moving platform module is relatively simple, and can be designed to various types according to the practical need. The leg module comprises four kinds of modules, the pair module (traditional and composite), the link module, the connector module and the actuated module. The leg module is the core of this chapter.The whole software frame of modular and reconfigurable parallel manipulator is introduced, it can be devided into three modules, that is construction module, kinematic analysis module, dynamics and control module. The kinematic analysis module is introduced in detail and analyzed with an example.