Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2006) 28: 602–609
DOI 10.1007/s00170-004-2379-x
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Q. Zhang · H.J. Zou · W.Z. Guo
Position analysis of higher-class Assur groups by virtual variable searching
and its application in a multifunction domestic sewing machine
Received: 6 July 2004 / Accepted: 11 August 2004 / Published online: 3 August 2005
© Springer-Verlag London Limited 2005
Abstract This paper presents a simple and effective method
to solve the position of higher-class Assur groups by means of
virtual variable searching. It transforms the higher-class Assur
groups into a constraint link, Class II Assur group(s), and vir-
tual driving link(s), defined by the virtual variable. The constraint
link is reassembled by one-dimensional searching of the vir-
tual variable, and the potential solutions of the position of the
higher-class Assur group are achieved with rapid mathematic
convergence. Detailed criteria are set up for complicated higher-
class Assur groups, including how to select the virtual driving
link and constraint Link, and how to decide the solving sequence
of converted Class II Assur groups. A versatile visual program
has been developed to simulate higher-class planar mechanisms.
Finally, an example of the feeding mechanism of a multifunction
domestic sewing machine demonstrates the new method.
Keywords Constraint link · Higher-class Assur groups ·
Position analysis · Virtual driving link ·
Virtual variable searching
1 Introduction
Complex planar mechanisms that perform complicated func-
tion generation, run at high speed under heavy loads, are low
cost, and feature high structure stiffness and great precision, are
widely used in machines and production lines to deliver parts or
to transmit motion and/or force. However, their kinematic analy-
sis – one of the most important aspects in linkage design – is still
to be solved for more convenience and for greater effectiveness.
And yet a lot of work has been done [2–10].
Q. Zhang (u) · H.J. Zou · W.Z. Guo
School of Mechanical Engineering,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
Shanghai 200030, People’s Republic of China
E-mail: qzh315@sjtu.edu.cn
Tel.: +86-21-62933054
Fax: +86-21-62932023
Kinematic analysis includes position analysis, velocity an-
alysis and acceleration analysis; of these, position analysis is the
most difficult. To analyze the position of a complex planar link-
age, there are two categories of methods: the global method [9,
10] and the group method [2, 4–8]. The global method takes
the linkage as a whole by listing the position equations based
on the vector loop, and solving the equations using different
techniques.
The basic idea of the group method is “divide-and-conquer”.
It splits the linkage into the driving link(s), the fixed frame, as
well as the Assur groups with zero degrees of freedom (DOF)
that cannot be further divided into lower-class Assur groups [1].
Then, the basic Assur groups are analyzed one-by-one, and the
whole solution of the linkage is determined. Therefore, the so-
lutions of the basic Assur groups become the key point. Assur
groups have different classes, according to the number of links
and the topologic structures, which can be of Class I, Class II,
Class III, Class IV and Class V [1, 2, 8]. The solutions of the
lower-class Assur groups, including Class I and Class II, are
analytical and well documented [2, 3]; whereas, the solutions
of the higher-class Assur groups, including Class III, Class IV
and Class V, generally involve numerical techniques to search
the approximate solution of the position equations system that
is usually highly non-linear and highly complex, and may even
contain the transcendental function.
In [2], the Newton–Raphson iteration method is used to ob-
tain the approximate solution of non-linear position equations
system of the higher class Assur groups. But this numerical
method does not always lead to a fast and accurate solution,
since the solving process involves the inversion of the com-
plex coefficient matrix. This will affect the astringency of the
iteration process. Several methods are reported to handle these
problems [4–8]. Some researchers have presented polynomial
solutions to the position of some higher-class Assur groups [4–
7]. Nevertheless, the solutions to the other types of higher-class
Assur groups remain unresolved. In [8], a method that modifies
the kinematic units is proposed, but further research for the de-
tailed searching procedure of the position solution has not been
reported.

This paper presents a new simple and effective method that
is able to cover all the possible higher-class Assur groups. It is
detailed in five sections: Sect. 2 presents the basic idea of the
method and the solution procedure using Class III Assur groups
as example; Sect. 3 extends this method to more complicated
higher-class Assur groups, especially on the criteria that selects
the constraint link and virtual driving link and determines the
solving sequence of the converted Class II Assur groups; Sect. 4
provides the example of the feeding mechanism of a multifunc-
tion domestic sewing machine containing an RR–PR–RP-type
Class III Assur group; and Sect. 5 offers conclusions.
2 The method of virtual variable searching
The basic idea of the new method follows the concept of “divide-
and-conquer”. The higher-class Assur group is first divided into
one constraint link and one single-DOF linkage comprising of
one or several lower-class Assur groups, and one virtual driv-
ing link defined by the virtual variable. This is then solved to
determine the whole solution using one-dimension searching.
For example, consider the RR–RP–PR Class III Assur group
shown in Fig. 1. Here, R denotes a revolute joint, and P is a pris-
matic joint. The joints connecting the links within the group
are called the inner joints, and the joints connecting the group
to other links are called the outer joints. The three outer joints
shown in Fig. 1 are regarded to be fixed at any instant, since their
positions are known. We can disassemble Link 3 with two at-
tached lower pairs from this Class III group as the constraint link
with -1 degree of freedom. As shown in Fig. 1b, the left part will
form a virtual single-DOF linkage composed of one virtual driv-
ing link 1 with 1 DOF, and one Class II Assur group with Links
Fig. 1. RR–RP–PR Class III Assur group
Fig. 2. Three kinds of Class III Assur group
603
2 and 4. The input of the virtual driving link is referred to as
a virtual variable. Therefore, we can check where the constraint
link can be reassembled to the virtual linkage by searching the
virtual variable through its feasible range. All of the assembled
positions are the potential solutions of the original higher-class
Assur group. Mathematically, the assembly condition forms the
optimization goal, and the virtual variable becomes the optimiza-
tion variable where one-dimensional searching technology can
be applied.
Let φ (φ ∈ (0 ∼ 2π)) be the input of the virtual driving link.
The optimization objective function reflecting the assembling
condition of the constraint link 3 can be defined as follows:
F(φ) = (d − l3 sin θ)2 (1)
where:
|A · xC + B · yC + C|
d= √ (2)
A2 + B 2
A = yB − yD
B = xD − xB
C = x B yD − x D yB
Here, d is the vertical distance of Point C to Link BD, l3 is the
length of Link 3, θ is the angle between Links 3 and BD, xC and
yC are the coordinates of outer joints C, and x B , y B , x D and y D
are the coordinates of Points B and D, respectively, which are all
decided by φ.
Using general one-dimensional searching methods, such as
golden section search and dichotomous search, the optimal solu-
tion(s) can be determined for the virtual variable φ. Hence, the
position solution of the whole RR–PR–RP Assur group can be
found.
Furthermore, the constraint links with different joints reflect
different assembly geometry and form different optimization
goal functions. For example, if Link 3 in Fig. 2a, b and c are
taken as the constraint link, the assembly conditions should be
the distance between Joints C and E and equal to the length of
Link 3. The perpendicular distance from Joint F to Link BD is
equal to the corresponding projection length of Link 3, and the
perpendicular distance from Joint C to Link BD is equal to zero.
On the other hand, the different selection of the constraint
link should be able to produce a set of lower-class Assur groups
604

that are coupled or decoupled with one another. Thus, a consid-

erable selection should be made. In general, for a Class III Assur
group, each of the three links connecting the ternary link (with
three pairs) can be taken as the constraint link.
In our work, a versatile visual analysis program has been
developed for planar mechanisms involving higher-class Assur
groups using Visual Basic 6.0. It contains several subprogram
libraries, including the analysis of Class II Assur groups, uncon-
strained searching methods with a single variable, the kinemati-
cal simulation of mechanisms, and so on.

3 Applications in higher-class Assur groups

The presented method can be applied to any higher-class Assur
groups. Without a loss of generality, we study the basic forms
of higher-class Assur groups involving only revolute joints. Ac-
cording to [1], the Assur groups composed of four links and six
joints have two basic forms: (a) the Class III Assur group, as
shown in Fig. 2a; and (b) the Class IV Assur group, as shown in
Fig. 3. This Class IV Assur group can be analyzed by taking Link
2 as the constraint link and Link 1 as the virtual driving link with
a Class II RRR Assur group composed of Links 3 and 4, as well Fig. 4. Assur groups with six links and nine joints
as three revolute pairs.
The Assur groups with six links and nine joints have ten ba-
sic forms, as shown in Fig. 4a–j. By taking a binary link as the
constraint link, the remainder can be cut into two Class II As-
sur groups, and one virtual driving link with an outer joint. The
optimization objective function can be defined as the square of
the difference between the distance of two joints adjacent to the
constraint link, and the length of the constraint link.
Assur groups with more links and joints can also be separated
into a set of lower-class Assur groups in the same way. For in-
stance, the Assur groups with eight links and 12 joints have 173 Fig. 5. Assur groups with eight links and 12 joints
basic forms, of which the most typical one is shown in Fig. 5. It
can be cut into three Class II Assur groups with Link 8 as the vir-
tual driving link, after taking Link 7 as the constraint link. The
Assur group containing 12 links and 18 joints is shown in Fig. 6,
which can be divided into five Class II Assur groups with Link 12
as virtual driving link, and taking Link 9 as the constraint link.
As aforementioned, the selection of the constraint link and
the virtual driving link should guarantee a set of lower-class As-
sur groups to be decoupled with one another. For example, the
Class V Assur group with eight links and 12 joints [8], as shown
in Fig. 7a, has four outer pairs (B, E, H and N) with known pos- Fig. 6. Assur group with 12 links and 18 joints
itions. If the Link 4 (as shown in Fig. 7b) or Link 2 (the same

as in [8]) is taken as the virtual driving link after setting Link

9 as the constraint link, this Class V Assur group can be con-
verted into three Class II Assur groups that are decoupled with
one another, which can be solved separately according to the
sequence of the solving (as noted in bracketed numbers). As
shown in Fig. 7c, if Link 6 is taken as the virtual driving link
after setting Link 4 as the constraint link, this Class V Assur
group can be also converted into three Class II Assur groups.
Fig. 3. Class IV Assur group These are coupled with one another and must be solved sim-

Fig. 7. Class V Assur group with eight links and 12 joints
ultaneously. As shown in Fig. 7d, if Link 6 is taken as virtual
driving link after setting Link 9 as the constraint link, then
this Class V Assur group is impossible to convert into Class II
Assur groups.
Furthermore, the lower-class Assur groups with known outer
joints should be solved prior to the other ones. For instance, the
Assur group shown in Fig. 4a has four known outer pairs (A, D,
G and I). This Assur group can be converted into two Class II As-
sur groups, one of which is the Assur group composed of Links
AB and BC (E) with two known outer pairs A and C (the pos-
Fig. 8. Feeding mechanism of multifunction domestic swing machine
605
ition of Joint C connected to the virtual driving link is known).
The other one is the Assur group composed of Links EH (F) and
HI with one known outer joint I and one unknown outer joint E.
After the former group is solved, the position of Joint E becomes
known, and then the left group can also be solved.
The numbers in the brackets shown in Fig. 4a–j, Fig. 5, Fig. 6
and Fig. 7b denotes the sequence of the solving.
4 Case study
A multifunction domestic sewing machine contains a compli-
cated feeding mechanism involving a Class III RR–PR–RP Assur
group, as shown in Fig. 8a. The feeding cam 1 is driven by the in-
put motion of the arm shaft of the sewing machine. The feeding
frame 7 is the output member of the mechanism to display the de-
sired trajectory, which is coordinated with the other mechanisms
of the sewing machine.
4.1 Replacing higher pair by lower pairs
To apply the presented method, the higher pairs of the mechan-
ism are first substituted with the lower pairs, as shown in Fig. 8b.
Then, the equivalent planar linkage is determined.
4.2 Topologic structure of the equivalent mechanism
According to the topology [1, 2], the equivalent planar linkage
consists of one Class II RRR Assur group with Links 2 and 3;
two Class II RPR groups with Link 6 and 10, as well as Link
7 and 11 respectively; and one Class III RR-PR-RP group with
Links 4, 5, 8 and 9, the driving link 1 and the frame, as shown in
Fig. 8c.
606

4.3 Position analysis of the mechanism where l HW and l WT are the lengths of HW and WT respectively,
and x W , yW , x T and yT are the coordinates of Points W and T
To facilitate the position analysis and kinematic simulation of respectively.
the feeding mechanism, a coordinate system is set, as shown in The sign selection in Eq. 4 depends on the initial assembly
Fig. 8c. configuration of the mechanism.
Based on the Assur group method [2] of position analysis, the The virtual variable ϕ4 ∈ (0 ∼ 2π) is the input angle of the
positions of Point I, the Class II RRR Assur group with Links 2 virtual driving link 4. By way of virtual variable searching, the
and 3, the Class II RPR Assur group with Link 6 and 10, and the perfect position can be determined, where the constraint link
Class II RPR Assur group with Link 7 and 11 can be derived, as 9 can be reassembled to the Class II RRP Assur group. Math-
detailed in Appendix. ematically, the optimization goal function is the square of the
The positions of Links 4, 5, 8 and 9, which form a Class difference between the distance d from Point Q i to WT, and
III RR–PR–RP Assur group, will be analyzed by the presented the length of Link 9, namely r1i , that is the radius of curva-
method of virtual variable searching. As shown in Fig. 8d, we ture of arc i of feeding cam1 (composed of six circular arcs) as
take Link 4 as the virtual driving link and Link 9 as the constraint follows:
link. Then, the remaining links 5 and 8 with two revolute pairs
and one prismatic pair comprise a Class II RRP Assur group.
F(ϕ4 ) = (d − r1i )2 (9)
The coordinates of Point G are:


x G = x A + l AG cos ϕ4 where d is the distance from Point Q i to WT, and is determined
(3)
yG = y A − l AG sin ϕ4 as follows:
where l AG is the length of AG, x G and yG are the coordinates of  
 A · x Q + B · yQ + C
Joint G, and x A and y A are the coordinates of Pivot A. d= √i i
(10)
Let P be the reference point to calculate the Class II RRP A2 + B 2
Assur group, which is on the guide of feeding regulator 8, as
shown in Fig. 8d. The displacement s of the feeding regulator 8 where:
is determined as follows:
  A = −tgϕ5
 −B ± √ B 2 − 4C 
  B = −1
s=  (4)
 2 
C = yW + tgϕ5 x W
where:
Here, x Q i and y Q i are the coordinates of Point Q i , which is the
B = 2[(x P − x G ) cos θ + (y P − yG ) sin(−θ)] center of curvature of arc i of the feeding cam 1.
and C = (x P − x G )2 + (y P − yG)2 − l G
2
H In this example, the golden section search method is applied
to find the solution of virtual variable ϕ4 as follows:
Here, θ is the angle between the guide of feeding regulator 8
and positive x axis in a counterclockwise manner, whose value 1. Step1: the range 0–2π is taken as the initial searching inter-
is adjustable according to the required trajectories of the feed- val of angle ϕ4 to find all the possible solutions for the initial
ing frame; x P and y P are the coordinates of reference point P position of the mechanism.
that can be determined based on the assembly configuration of 2. Step2: the right solution is determined according to the initial
the mechanism; and l G H is the length of GH. assembly configuration of the mechanism.
The coordinate of Point H and the value of angle ϕ5 can be 3. Step3: a neighborhood about the solution of angle ϕ4 of
calculated as follows: the last position of the mechanism can be taken as the ini-

tial searching single-peaked interval for the golden section
x H = x P + s cos θ search. This is due to the continuity of mechanism motion
(5)
y H = y P − s sin θ which has a narrower range of angle ϕ4 .
y H − yG
ϕ5 = −arctg (6) When the optimal solution of the virtual variable ϕ4 is ob-
x H − xG
tained, the position solution of the entire Class III RR–PR–RP
where ϕ5 is the angle between GH and the positive x-axis in Assur group can be found.
a counterclockwise manner, and x H and y H are the coordinates Based on the solution of angle ϕ4 , the coordinates of Joint B
of Joint H. can be obtained as follows:
The coordinate values of Point W and T are:


x B = x A + l AB cos(ϕ4 + α)
x W = x H + l HW cos(ϕ5 − π2 ) (11)
(7) y B = y A − l AB sin(ϕ4 + α)
yW = y H − l HW sin(ϕ5 − π2 )


x T = x W + l WT cos ϕ5 where α is the angle between AG and AB, l AB is the length of AB,
(8)
yT = yW − l WT sin ϕ5 and x B and y B are the coordinates of Joint B.

4.4 Simulation studies
The structure parameters of the mechanism are listed in Table 1.
Let the feeding cam 1 rotate at a constant angular velocity in
a clockwise direction, and its angle ϕ1 varies in the range of 0–
2π. Based on the above model, the computer simulations were
carried out on a Pentium IV PC, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10.
Figure 9 shows the simulation results when the feeding frame
forward feed is set at θ = 15◦ , and where x P = 58.56 mm and
y P = 81.4 mm, and Fig. 10 shows the simulation results when
the feeding frame reverse feed is set at θ = −37◦ , and where
Fig. 9. Simulation results for the feeding
mechanism – forward motion
Fig. 10. Simulation results for the feed-
ing mechanism – reverse motion
607
x P = 65.25 mm and y P = 46.98 mm. Each figure has six graphs,
including: (a) the displacement of feeding regulator, (b) the opti-
mal solution of the virtual variable ϕ4 , (c) the angular displace-
ment ϕ5 of ternary link 5, (d) the x-coordinate of Point S of
feeding frame 7, (e) the y-coordinate of Point S of feeding frame
7, and (f) the trajectory of Point S of feeding frame 7.
Also obtained are the position parameters of other motion
links and the simulation animation of mechanism, and the key
characteristic parameters of the feeding mechanism, such as the
stitch length, the maximum height of feeding lift, the initial angle
of feeding cam 1, the end angle of feeding cam 1, the effective
608
Table 1. Structure parame-
ters of mechanism Lengths of links (mm) Coordinates of Radiuses of arcs of Radiuses of arcs of
pivots (mm) feeding cam (mm) feeding lifting cam (mm)

lI J 10 l B1 S 52 xA 50.65 r11 15.5 r21 6.7

l JE 170.8 l B1 R 100 ya 214.65 r12 5.5 r22 10
lE F 13 l MN 25 xD 88.4 r13 17.45 r23 10.7
l JF 170.8 lVC 13.15 yD 197 r14 7.6 Known angles
l AG 18 l DM 8.59 xF 67.55 r15 17.45 α 103.5◦
lG H 149.6 l KW 7 yF 197.7 r16 5.5 β 94◦
l AB 35 l DV 16.5 xJ 100 Radius of bulb δ 10◦
of link 6 (mm)
lWT 80 l BB1 2.7 yJ 30 r3 8

Table 2. Simulation results for key characteristic parameters of mechanism Appendix

Characteristic parameters Forward Reverse
1. The coordinates of Point I is determined as follows:
feeding feeding

x I = x J + l IJ cos ϕ1
(A.1)
Stitch length (mm) 4.52 4.8 y I = y J − l IJ sin ϕ1
Feeding lifting maximum height (mm) 0.56 0.51
Feeding start angle of feeding cam (◦ ) 143 133 where x I and y I are the coordinates of Joint I, x J and y J are
Feeding end angle of feeding cam (◦ ) 23 23 the coordinates of Pivot J , l IJ is the length of IJ , and ϕ1 is
Feeding effective angle of feeding cam (◦ ) 120 110
Difference of between forward 6.2% the angle between IJ and the positive x-axis, in a counter-
and reverse stitch length clockwise manner.
2. The position of the Class II RRR Assur group with Links 2
and 3 is determined as per [2]:
√
angle of feeding cam 1, and the difference of between forward and A ± A2 + B 2 − C 2
reverse stitch length. The simulation results for key characteris- ϕ3 = 2 arctg (A.2)
B+C
tic parameters of mechanism are shown in Table 2. The anima-
where:
tion shows the continuous motion of the mechanism. As shown
in Table 2, the difference of between forward and reverse stitch A = −2l E F (y I − y F )
length is 6.2%, which is almost the same as the measured value. B = 2l E F (x I − x F )
C = l 2E F + AC2 − l 2E I

5 Conclusions AC = (x F − x I )2 + (y F − y I )2

The method of virtual variable searching is presented in this pa- Here, ϕ3 is the angle between EF and the positive x-axis in
per to cover all the possible higher-class Assur groups. Based a counterclockwise manner, l E F and l E I are the lengths of
on the method, a versatile visual kinematic analysis program of E F and E I respectively, and x F and y F are the coordinates
planar mechanisms is developed. According to the above discus- of Pivot F.
sions, following conclusions can be drawn: The sign selection in Eq. A.2 depends on the initial assembly
configuration of the mechanism.
1. The new method has a better convergence property and com-
3. Calculate the position of Class II RPR Assur group with Link
putation accuracy, and provides an effective means of pos-
6 and 10
ition analysis of planar mechanisms of higher-class.
The angle γ between MN and positive x-axis in a counter-
2. The constraint links with different joints reflect different
clockwise manner, is determined as follows:
assembly geometry and form different optimization goal √
functions. A ± A2 + B 2 − C 2
3. The selection of the constraint link and the virtual driving link γ = 2 arctg (A.3)
C−B
should guarantee a set of lower-class Assur groups decoupled
where:
with one another. The lower-class Assur groups with known
outer joints should be solved prior to solving the others. A = xUi − x D
4. Among all potential solutions by way of virtual variable
B = yUi − y D
searching, the correct one can be found according to the ini-
tial assembly configuration of the mechanism. C = l DM cos(β−90◦ ) − r2i
ϕ6 = γ − β (A.4)
Acknowledgement The authors thank the financial support under project
grants (No. 50275092, No. 50405017) from the National Science Founda- Here, ϕ6 is the angle between CV and the positive x-axis, β
tion of China. is the angle between MN and MD, xUi and yUi are the coor-
 609

dinates of Point Ui , which is the center of curvature of arc i The coordinates of Point B1 , R and S are:
of feeding lifting cam (composed of three circular arcs and

one line), x D and y D are the coordinate of Pivot D, l DM is the x B1 = x B + l BB1 cos(ϕ7 + π2 )
(A.10)
length of DM, and r2i is the radius of curvature of arc i of the y B = y B − l BB1 sin(ϕ7 + π2 )

1
feeding lifting cam. x R = x B1 + l B1 R cos ϕ7
(A.11)
The sign selection in Eq. A.3 depends on the initial assembly y R = y B1 − l B1 R sin ϕ7
configuration of the mechanism.

x S = x B1 + l B1 S cos(ϕ7 + δ)
The coordinates of Points M, N, V and C are: (A.12)
y S = y B1 − l B1 S sin(ϕ7 + δ)


x M = x D + l MD cos(ϕ6 + π)
(A.5) where δ is the angle between B1 R and B1 S, x B1 , y B1 , x R , y R ,
y M = y D − l MD sin(ϕ6 + π)

x S and y S are the coordinates of Point B1 , R and S, respec-
x N = x M + l MN cos γ
(A.6) tively, l BB1, and l B1 R and l B1 S are the lengths of B1 B, B1 R
y N = y M − l MN sin γ

and B1 S, respectively.
x V = x D + l DV cos(ϕ6 − π2 )
(A.7)
YV = Y D − l DV sin(ϕ6 − π2 )


xC = x V + lCV cos ϕ6
(A.8) References
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