Fine Tuning of a Force Balanced 1-DoF Rotating Mechanism

Abstract

Vibration in moving mechanisms and manipulators is almost always present due to manufacturing tolerances, assembly errors and non-uniform density of materials. Small errors in parameters such as mass and length may result in a non-balanced mechanism producing shaking forces. Normally a mechanism would be balanced using a trial and error method, which repeats the use of trial weights and measurements until the mechanism is balanced, however this method is time consuming and therefore costly. This report presents a method that detects, locates and quantifies the error(s) in a force balanced mechanism, after just one test run. An adjustable 1-DoF rotating mechanism is developed and a sensitivity analysis is performed to obtain the shaking force response of each parameter error. Comparing the shaking force response with the theoretical values shows the effectiveness of the adjustable 1-DoF rotating mechanism. Then the inversed relations of these shaking force responses are plotted in a design chart which can trace back the parameters that need adjusting. The method demonstrates that a 1-DoF mechanism can be balanced after just one test run.