A Review on Design Methods for Compliant Mechanisms

Abstract

This paper gives a brief overview and comparison of the methods applied in the design of compliant mechanisms. Since the first research works on the subject appeared in the 1980s, several methods have being conceived to analyze and design these mechanisms that gain part of their motion from the deflection of flexible members rather than from movable joints only. The scope and limitations of the most widely used design tools in the field; pseudo-rigid model based methods, optimization based methods), and a novel inverse design method are investigated and discussed.