Harnessing elastic energy to overcome singularity issues in four-bar mechanisms with a crank link

The ability to convert reciprocating, i.e., alternating, actuation into rotary motion using linkages is hindered fundamentally by their poor torque transmission capability around kinematic singularity configurations. Here, we harness the elastic potential energy of a linear spring attached to the coupler link of four-bar mechanisms to...

Frequency doubling in elastic mechanisms using buckling of microflexures

Microtransmission mechanisms made of elastic materials present an opportunity for exploring scalable mechanical systems integrated with sophisticated functionalities. This paper shows how the fundamentally limited range of motion in elastic mechanisms can be circumvented to create a frequency doubling functionality analog to angular velocity...

Compliant transmission mechanisms

Classical human-engineered transmission mechanisms such as linkages, gears, and couplings are well established designs which made out of multiple parts and rigid hinges. However, these mechanisms impose disadvantages such as wear, friction, low precision and reliability, need for assembly and lubrications, and difficulty for miniaturization. By...

Swiss watch featuring Dutch precision

A method is introduced to design compliant micro transmission mechanisms which double the motion frequency of a cyclic input motion. Compliant embodiments are generated based on exploiting the singularity in a double-slider mechanism, which provides building blocks with a frequency-multiplication factor of two. It is shown that the proposed...