A method for designing metamorphic mechanisms and its application

With the research into metamorphic mechanisms, three basic metamorphic ways is introduced. The essence of these metamorphic ways is restricted to the transformation of variable kinematic pairs. A method for designing new metamorphic mechanisms is proposed: Firstly, primary type synthesis of mechanisms should be done respectively according to the needs of each configuration. Then appropriate variable kinematic pairs are selected to replace original kinematic pairs in order to achieve combination and variation of these mechanisms for meeting the needs of different tasks. A metamorphic mechanism for operating a hatch is developed to achieve the moving trajectory of the hatch according to the method. The method has demonstrated to be feasible in designing new metamorphic mechanisms.