Molding 3-DOF planar positioning and orientation tables with large-deflective polymer hinges and links for packaging manufacturing systems

In a previous paper (EMAP2000), one of the authors has already proposed and developed the molding pantograph mechanism with large-deflective hinges and links for a miniature surface mount system for packaging manufacturing systems. The characteristic of the pantograph mechanism is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The final miniature manufacturing system for micro assembling is composed of the pantograph mechanisms and the following positioning-and-orientation table. In this paper, a new molding 3-DOF planar positioning-and-orientation table with large-deflective polymer hinges and links is proposed. The table has two functions: a transmission function between manufacturing stations and a positioning-and-orientation function at the manufacturing station. The table with six large-deflective hinges and seven links is made by a small molding injection machine. The material used is PP (polypropylene). The table has three linear actuators. In the experiments, the singular points of the table mechanism are investigated in its working space and compared with the theoretical results. The performance concerning the transmissibility of the proposed new molding 3-DOF planar positioning-and-orientation table is confirmed