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Stiffness analysis of corrugated flexure beam used in compliant mechanisms

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Abstract

Conventional flexible joints generally have limited range of motion and high stress concentration. To overcome these shortcomings, corrugated flexure beam(CF beam) is designed because of its large flexibility obtained from longer overall length on the same span. The successful design of compliant mechanisms using CF beam requires manipulation of the stiffnesses as the design variables. Empirical equations of the CF beam stiffness components, except of the torsional stiffness, are obtained by curve-fitting method. The application ranges of all the parameters in each empirical equation are also discussed. The ratio of off-axis to axial stiffness is considered as a key characteristic of an effective compliant joint. And parameter study shows that the radius of semi-circular segment and the length of straight segment contribute most to the ratio. At last, CF beam is used to design translational and rotational flexible joints, which also verifies the validity of the empirical equations. CF beam with large flexibility is presented, and empirical equations of its stiffness are proposed to facilitate the design of flexible joint with large range of motion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Precision Equipment and Manufacturing Technology, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510641, China

    Nianfeng Wang, Xiaohe Liang & Xianmin Zhang

Authors
  1. Nianfeng Wang
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  2. Xiaohe Liang
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  3. Xianmin Zhang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nianfeng Wang.

Additional information

Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos. 51205134, 91223201), Doctoral Fund of Ministry of Education of China(Grant No. 20120172120001), and Research Project of State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, China(Grant No. MSV201405).

WANG Nianfeng, born in 1977, is currently a professor at South China University of Technology, China. He received his PhD degree from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in 2008. His research interests include compliant mechanism, structural optimization and robotics.

LIANG Xiaohe, born in 1989, is currently a master candidate at South China University of Technology, China. His research interests include compliant mechanism, precision equipment.

ZHANG Xianmin, born in 1964, is currently a professor at South China University of Technology, China. He received his PhD degree from Beihang University, China, in 1997. His research interests include mechatronics engineering, compliant mechanism.

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Wang, N., Liang, X. & Zhang, X. Stiffness analysis of corrugated flexure beam used in compliant mechanisms. Chin. J. Mech. Eng. 28, 776–784 (2015). https://doi.org/10.3901/CJME.2015.0414.042

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3901/CJME.2015.0414.042

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