Design of Compliant Mechanisms that Exactly Fit a Desired Shape

Abstract

A new method for designing compliant mechanisms using an inverse beam model is presented here. Several mechanisms with distributed and concentrated compliance are studied. The proposed inverse model allows to design compliant mechanisms that exactly fulfill the loaded mechanism shape, with lower computational costs compared with other design methods. It is specially suited for problems where an object has to be manipulated by the mechanism with a prescribed contact force, allowing to maximize contact points between the mechanism and the object geometry. In particular, grippers, pliers and brakes are studied here, where results show a perfect matching of the contact shapes.