Performance atlases and optimum design of planar 5R symmetrical parallel mechanisms

This paper addresses the graphical representation of performances and the optimum design issue of the planar 5R symmetrical parallel mechanism. In this the paper, some performance indices, such as the global conditioning index (GCI), the global velocity index (GVI), the global payload index (GPI), and the global stiffness (deformation) index (GSI), will be defined and investigated. The corresponding atlases will be finally represented graphically in the established design space. Based on these atlases, one can synthesize the link lengths of the studied mechanism with respect to specified criteria. Some examples will be given to show how to use the atlases. Especially, an example will be presented to achieve the optimum dimensional mechanism with respect to a desired workspace based on the optimum non-dimensional result obtained from the atlases. For the reason that using the atlases presented in this paper a designer can obtain the optimum result with respect to any object(s), the optimum design method proposed in this paper can be accepted by others.