OPTIMAL SYNTHESIS OF A SIX-BAR MECHANISM WITH AN APPROXIMATED UNIFORM OUTPUT MOTION*

In this manuscript, a six-bar mechanism with a reciprocal output link has been analyzed. Optimal dimensions of the mechanism are determined such that the output velocity, when the input angular acceleration is zero, be approximately constant. The optimization process is performed by the direct search method named Hook and Jeeves method. It is also shown that, due to the unsmoothed objective function, the gradient based optimization techniques, such as DFP method, are not recommended. Finally, it is presented that the results are the same as proposed by Artobolovsky, whose results were based on experimental and graphical methods.