Synthesis of a single-loop, overconstrained six revolute

joint spatial mechanism for two-position cylindrical

rigid body guidance
Albert J. Shih
a,*
, Hong-Sen Yan
b
a
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7910, USA
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan, ROC
Received 13 February 2001; accepted 6 August 2001
Abstract
The synthesis and analysis of a single-loop, overconstrained spatial mechanism with six binary links and
six revolute joints for the guidance of a cylindrical rigid body between two positions are presented. The
geometric constraints that make the spatial 6R mechanism movable are rst introduced. Four features of
the geometrical constraints of this mechanism are summarized to demonstrate its mobility and used for
dimensional synthesis. Steps for mechanism dimensional synthesis are developed based on the descriptive
and analytical geometry. The mechanism analysis based on analytical geometry is also presented. One of
the advantages of this spatial mechanism is that the toggle position can be integrated into the synthesis.
This is especially attractive in the synthesis of the wheel retract and twist mechanism for aircraft landing
gears and the automated grinding wheel or tool changer for machine tools. A detailed example is used to
illustrate the mathematical models for mechanism synthesis and analysis. 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.
All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Based on Kutzbach's mobility criterion, a single-loop spatial linkage with six binary links and
six revolute pairs, denoted as 6R, is an overconstrained mechanism with zero degrees of freedom.
A number of movable spatial 6R mechanisms have been reported. Mavroidis and Roth [1,2],
Barker [3], Lee and Yan [4], and Wohlhart [5] have reviewed these mechanisms and summarized
their congurations, proof of mobility, and inputoutput equations. The goal of this paper is to
Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 6173
www.elsevier.com/locate/mechmt
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-919-515-2365; fax: +1-919-515-7968.
E-mail address: ajshih@eos.ncsu.edu (A.J. Shih).
0094-114X/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0094- 114X( 01) 00055- 6
present a dimensional synthesis method for a particular type of overconstrained spatial 6R
mechanism with three adjacent parallel axes. This mechanism, as shown in Fig. 1, is a special case
of the Type II movable 6R mechanisms reported in [4]. The mobility of this mechanism has been
demonstrated by solving the kinematic equations [4,6]. This mechanism is also similar, but not
identical, to the orthogonal Bricard linkage [5], which has three non-adjacent axes of revolute
joints parallel to each other. This research was initiated because of the need to design an aircraft
landing gear wheel retract and twist mechanism, which is a typical application of the two-position
cylindrical rigid body guidance. Other applications of the two-position cylindrical rigid body
guidance include automated grinding wheel or tool changers for machine tools, barrel movers for
automatic factory storage systems, etc. In this paper, mathematical models are developed to
synthesize and analyze an overcontstrained spatial 6R mechanism to solve the two-position cy-
lindrical rigid body guidance problem.
The conguration and Denavit and Hartenberg's notation [7] of the spatial 6R mechanism to
be used in this study is shown in Fig. 1. This mechanism has the following four features, which
make it movable and can be applied for dimensional synthesis:
Feature 1: Axes of three adjacent revolute joints, Z
1
, Z
2
, and Z
6
for joints 1, 2, and 6, intersect at
a common point, O.
Feature 2: Axes of the other three adjacent revolute joints, Z
3
, Z
4
, and Z
5
for joints 3, 4, and 5,
are parallel to each other.
Feature 3: Rotational axes of the two revolute joints that connect the two intersected and
parallel sets of joints are perpendicular to each other, i.e., Z
2
l Z
3
and Z
5
l Z
6
.
Feature 4: The rotational axis of joint 6, Z
6
, intersects the origin of the X
1
Y
1
Z
1
and X
5
Y
5
Z
5
coordinate systems.
Only the rst two features are sucient to ensure the mobility of this overconstrained
spatial 6R mechanism. Features 3 and 4 are added to make the mechanism synthesis, based
on the combination of analytical and descriptive geometry methods, possible. Since the de-
scriptive geometry [8] is used for the dimensional synthesis, the position of joints needs to be
Fig. 1. The conguration and DH notation of the spatial 6R mechanism and the global XYZ coordinate system.
62 A.J. Shih, H.-S. Yan / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 6173
represented by points. The connection of two points in dierent projective planes represents
the position of a link in descriptive geometry. Six points, O, A, B, C, D, and E, are used to
represent the positions of joints 16, respectively. As shown in Fig. 1, point O, representing
joint 1, is at the intersection of the X
1
and Z
1
axes. Point A, representing joint 2, is at the
intersection of the X
3
and Z
2
axes. Point B, representing joint 3, is at the intersection of the X
3
and Z
3
axes. Point C, representing joint 4, is at the intersection of the X
4
and Z
4
axes. Point D,
representing joint 5, is at the intersection of the X
5
and Z
5
axes. And joint 6, represented by E,
is on the extension of line OD. Points O, D, and E are collinear. The distance between points
D and E is not a design parameter listed in the DH notation in Fig. 1 and does not inuence
the kinematic motion of the mechanism. The six links of this 6R mechanism are links OA,
AB, BC, CD, DE, and EO.
This spatial 6R mechanism has another feature: the six points, O, A, B, C, D, and E, always
remain in a plane. As the link OA rotates to a new position, the four points, O, A, D, and E,
determine a new plane. The motion of links moves points B and C to this plane. The three ad-
jacent parallel axes, Z
3
, Z
4
, and Z
5
at points B, C, and D, are perpendicular to this plane. This is
illustrated in Fig. 2. Fig. 2(a) shows the mechanism in Position 1 with positions of points A, B, and
C represented by A
1
, B
1
, and C
1
, respectively. The plane P
1
is dened by the three xed, collinear
points O, D, and E, and the point A
1
. The axes at points B
1
, C
1
, and D (joints 3, 4, and 5) are all
perpendicular to P
1
.
Assume two links, AB and BC, are separated at point C (joint 4). The link OA is then rotated to
Position 2 as shown in Fig. 2(b). The new position of point A is A
2
. A
2
, O, D, and E dene the
plane P
2
. Line AB, which is perpendicular to line OA, is rotated around point A (joint 2) to the
position where B
2
and link AB are both on plane P
2
. Since Z
2
l Z
3
(Feature 3), AB is on P
2
, and Z
2
is parallel to P
2
, Z
3
is perpendicular to P
2
. This denes the position and orientation of joint 3 or
point B
2
at Position 2. Similarly, link DE is rotated to orient Z
5
at point D perpendicular to P
2
.
This is possible because Z
5
l Z
6
(Feature 3) and Z
6
is parallel to P
2
. Since Z
3
, Z
4
, and Z
5
are parallel
to each other (Feature 1) and Z
3
and Z
5
are both perpendicular to P
2
, Z
4
at point C
2
is also
perpendicular to P
2
. The position of point C
2
(joint 4) is determined by given lengths of links BC
and CD and known positions of B
2
and D.
(a) (b)
Fig. 2. The six joints at (a) Position 1 and (b) Position 2 located on planes P
1
and P
2
, respectively.
A.J. Shih, H.-S. Yan / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 6173 63
For every incremental movement of the link OA, the mechanism can be reassembled at C. This
is another way, other than using kinematic equations [4,6], to demonstrate the mobility of this
overconstrained spatial 6R mechanism. This way of explanation may seem awkward; however, it
does provide the essential steps, to be discussed in the next section, for the graphical synthesis
based on descriptive geometry. In descriptive geometry, the side view of a plane is a straight line in
the projective plane. This particular characteristic is used for mechanism synthesis. Mechanism
design using the descriptive geometry is basically a graphical method. Several researchers have
applied this method for mechanism analysis and synthesis in the past. Herrera and Shoup [9]
demonstrated the application of descriptive geometry to analyze the RSSR and RSCP mecha-
nisms. Lakshminarayana and Rao [10] studied the graphical synthesis of RSSR crank-rocker
mechanism. Beard [11] used the descriptive geometry to determine the position and orientation of
a revolute joint for spatial motion of two points in a rigid body.
In this paper, four steps to synthesize the spatial 6R mechanism based on the given positions
and orientations of a cylindrical rigid body are rst introduced. The motion of the mechanism is
analyzed using the analytical geometry. A detailed example is used to illustrate and verify the
mathematical models developed for mechanism synthesis and analysis.
2. Mechanism synthesis
The objective of mechanism synthesis is to determine locations and orientations of all six re-
volute joints at Position 1. The cylindrical rigid body is xed on link AB. Mathematically, the
cylindrical rigid body is represented by the position of a point on the center axis and the direc-
tional vector of the center axis. As shown in Fig. 3(a), the cylindrical rigid body at Positions 1 and
2 are specied by points A
1
and A
2
on the center axes and by directional vectors of the center axes,
v
1
and v
2
. A
1
and A
2
are also the location of point A (joint 2) of the spatial mechanism at Positions
1 and 2, respectively. Fig. 2(a) shows a temporary X
/
Y
/
Z
/
coordinate system used to specify A
1
, A
2
,
v
1
and v
2
, before the point O and X
1
Y
1
Z
1
coordinate system are dened. Another XYZ coordinate
(a) (b)
Fig. 3. Synthesis of the location of point O for two-position cylindrical rigid body guidance.
64 A.J. Shih, H.-S. Yan / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 6173
system with the origin at O is dened in Fig. 1. Positions and axes of all joints in the spatial 6R
mechanism are referenced to this XYZ coordinate system in the mechanism synthesis and anal-
ysis.
The following four steps summarize the procedure for dimensional synthesis and inputs for the
mechanism synthesis are listed in Table 1.
2.1. Step 1. Location of point O
The location of point O has two constraints. First, distances from point O to A
1
and A
2
are
equal. Second, the angle between line OA
1
and v
1
(h in Fig. 3) is the same as the angle between line
OA
2
and v
2
. Mathematically, these two constraints can be written as:
OA
1
= OA
2
; (1)
OA
1
v
1
= OA
2
v
2
; (2)
where OA
1
is the distance from O to A
1
, OA
2
is the distance from O to A
2
, OA
1
is the vector from O
to A
1
, and OA
2
is the vector from O to A
2
. In the X
/
Y
/
Z
/
coordinate system, the components of
point O are (O
x
/ ; O
y
/ ; O
z
/ ), of point A
1
are (A
1x
/ ; A
1y
/ ; A
1z
/ ), of vector v
1
are (v
1x
/ ; v
1y
/ ; v
1z
/ ), etc. Eqs.
(1) and (2) are rewritten as a set of two linear equations with three unknowns O
x
/ , O
y
/ , and O
z
/ :
a
1
O
x
/ b
1
O
y
/ c
1
O
z
/ = d
1
; (3)
a
2
O
x
/ b
2
O
y
/ c
2
O
z
/ = d
2
; (4)
where
a
1
= 2(A
2x
/ A
1x
/ ); b
1
= 2(A
2y
/ A
1y
/ ); c
1
= 2(A
2z
/ A
1z
/ );
d
1
= A
2
1x
/
A
2
2x
/
A
2
1y
/
A
2
2y
/
A
2
1z
/
A
2
2z
/
;
a
2
= v
2x
/ v
1x
/ ; b
2
= v
2y
/ v
1y
/ ; c
2
= v
2z
/ v
1z
/ ;
d
2
= A
2x
/ v
2x
/ A
1x
/ v
1x
/ A
2y
/ v
2y
/ A
1y
/ v
1y
/ A
2z
/ v
2z
/ A
1z
/ v
1z
/ :
By assigning a value to either O
x
/ , O
y
/ , or O
z
/ , Eqs. (3) and (4) can be used as a set of two linear
simultaneous equations to solve for the other two unknown components of point O. For example,
if the designer picks a value for O
z
/ , then Eqs. (3) and (4) can be rearranged as Eqs. (5) and (6) to
solve for O
x
/ and O
y
/ :
a
1
O
x
/ b
1
O
y
/ = d
1
c
1
O
z
/ ; (5)
a
2
O
x
/ b
2
O
y
/ = d
2
c
2
O
z
/ : (6)
Table 1
Summary of the inputs for mechanism synthesis
In Step 1: Positions of A
1
and A
2
and directional vectors of v
1
and v
2
In Step 1: One of the coordinates of point O in X
/
Y
/
Z
/
coordinate system, either O
x
/ , O
y
/ , or O
z
/
In Step 3: Length of link AB
In Step 3: Angle c and lengths of O
h
D
h
and O
h
E
h
In Step 4: Ratio of the length of links BC and CD
A.J. Shih, H.-S. Yan / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 6173 65
2.2. Step 2. Angles a and b and the XYZ coordinate system at point O
As shown in Fig. 3(a), the angle between lines OA
1
and OA
2
is a
a = arccos
(O
x
/ A
1x
/ )(O
x
/ A
2x
/ ) (O
y
/ A
1y
/ )(O
y
/ A
2y
/ ) (O
z
/ A
1z
/ )(O
z
/ A
2z
/ )
OA
2

; (7)
where OA (= OA
1
= OA
2
) is the length of link OA.
The XYZ coordinate system with origin at point O and the unit vectors i, j, and k, as shown in
Fig. 3(a), is set up at point O. This XYZ coordinate system is also illustrated in Fig. 1. The Z-axis,
or vector k, is perpendicular to the plane OA
1
A
2
. The Y-axis, or vector j, is in the direction from A
1
to O. The three unit directional vectors i, j, and k are:
k =
OA
2
OA
1
OA
2
; (8)
j =
OA
1
OA
; (9)
i = j k: (10)
The components of O, A
1
, and A
2
in XYZ coordinate system are: O = (0; 0; 0), A
1
= (0; OA; 0),
and A
2
= (OAsin a; OAcos a; 0).
As shown in Fig. 3(b), when the link OA rotates from OA
1
to OA
2
and assuming that the relative
position between v
1
and OA
1
remains unchanged, v
1
is rotated to v
t
. The angle between v
t
and OA
2
is still h. b is the angle to rotate v
t
to v
2
in the direction of w (unit vector in the direction from A
2
to
O)
w =
OA
2
OA
; (11)
b is also the angle of rotation of the rigid body around point A. To calculate v
t
, v
1
is rotated along
the vector k by angle a. The axis rotation matrix [R
a;k
[ is used to calculate v
t
[12]
v
tx
/
v
ty
/
v
tz
/
8
<
:
9
=
;
= [R
a;k
[
v
1x
/
v
1y
/
v
1z
/
8
<
:
9
=
;
; (12)
where
[R
a;k
[ =
k
2
x
/
V a Ca k
x
/ k
y
/ V a k
z
/ Sa k
x
/ k
z
/ V a k
y
/ Sa
k
x
/ k
y
/ V a k
z
/ Sa k
2
y
/
V a Ca k
y
/ k
z
/ V a k
x
/ Sa
k
x
/ k
z
/ V a k
y
/ Sa k
y
/ k
z
/ V a k
x
/ Sa k
2
z
/
V a Ca
2
6
4
3
7
5; (13)
Ca = cos a; Sa = sin a; and V a = 1 cos a;
where v
1x
/ , v
1y
/ , and v
1z
/ are the components of vector v
1
, v
tx
/ , v
ty
/ , and v
tz
/ are the components of
vector v
t
, and k
x
/ , k
y
/ , and k
z
/ are the components of vector k in the X
/
Y
/
Z
/
coordinate system.
Fig. 3(b) illustrates how the angle b is calculated. The term l is the length of projection of v
1
and
v
t
on w.
66 A.J. Shih, H.-S. Yan / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 6173
l = v
1
w = v
t
w; (14)
b = arccos
(v
2
lw) (v
t
lw)
[v
2
lw[
2
" #
; (15)
where [v
2
lw[ is the length of vector v
2
lw.
Eqs. (7) and (15) solve the angles a and b but fail to provide the rotational direction. It is
recommended that the designer verify the results graphically during the mechanism analysis,
which will be discussed in Section 3.
2.3. Step 3. Positions of points D and E
The positions of points D and E are determined using the descriptive geometry as the design
tool. As shown in Fig. 4, two projective planes H and F are set up. The horizontal projective
plane, H, is perpendicular to link OA
1
and parallel to X and Z axes. H is the side view of plane P
1
.
As discussed in Fig. 1, the line DE intersects point O, and the plane A
1
ODE is called plane P
1
. On
H, plane P
1
is a straight line because H is the side view of P
1
. The six points at Position 1 (O
h
, A
1h
,
B
1h
, C
1h
, D
h
, and E
h
) are all located on this line. O
h
and A
1h
overlap each other in line P
1
on H.
The frontal projective plane, F, is parallel to line OA
1
and perpendicular to the Z-axis and the
rotational axis at O. F is parallel to the X and Y axes. HF is the folding line of the horizontal and
frontal projection planes. On F, distances from O
f
to A
1f
and A
2f
are equal to the length of link
OA. The angle between lines O
f
A
1f
and O
f
A
2f
is a, as calculated in Eq. (7).
Fig. 4. Use the three projective views, H, F, and I in perspective geometry for mechanism synthesis.
A.J. Shih, H.-S. Yan / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 6173 67
The angle between line P
1
on H and the folding line HF is c. c is an angle selected by the de-
signer. The designer also needs to choose the positions of D
h
and E
h
, or lengths O
h
D
h
and O
h
E
h
, on
line P
1
.
The third projective view, I, is the side view of plane P
2
where all six points at Position 2 (O
I
, A
2I
,
B
2I
, C
2I
, D
I
, and E
I
) are located on. Plane P
2
is a straight line on I. I is perpendicular to link OA at
Position 2, i.e., the folding line FI is perpendicular to line O
f
A
2f
, as shown in Fig. 4. The position of
O
I
can be found on the extension of line A
2f
O
f
. Based on descriptive geometry, as shown in Fig. 4,
the distance, d, from O
I
to the folding line FI is equal to the distance from O
h
to the folding line HF
[8]. This denes the location of O
I
on the extension of line O
f
A
2f
. On I, A
2I
overlaps with O
I
.
A circle with radius equals to the length of link AB is drawn around O
I
. This circle represents
the possible trajectory of point B
2
on I. The position of point B
1
on I, designated as B
1I
, is also
located on this circle, and the angle between O
I
B
1I
and folding line FI is c, as shown in Fig. 4.
Because link AB rotates through an angle b as the cylindrical rigid body moves from Positions 1
to 2, point B
2I
is determined by rotating B
1I
relative to O
I
by an angle b. O
I
B
2I
denes the side view
of plane P
2
. P
2
is a straight line on I. Points D
I
and E
I
are both located on line P
2
. The distance, m,
from D
I
to the folding line FI is equal to the known distance from D
h
to the folding line HF. This
determines the position of D
I
. Similarly, the distance from E
I
to FI (n in Fig. 4) equals the distance
from E
h
to HF. The position of E
I
on line P
2
is set.
After the positions of D
I
and E
I
are found, D
f
and E
f
can be solved. It is known that D
f
D
h
is
perpendicular to the folding line HF and D
f
D
I
is perpendicular to the folding line FI. The in-
tersection of two lines, one line passing through D
h
and perpendicular to HF and another line
passing through D
I
and perpendicular to FI, intersects at D
f
. Similarly, the intersection of two
lines, one line passing through E
h
and perpendicular to HF and another line passing through E
I
and perpendicular to FI, determines the location of E
f
.
Mathematically, when D
h
and E
h
are selected on line P
1
in H, the X and Z components of points
D and E are: D
x
= (O
h
D
h
) cos c, D
z
= (O
h
D
h
) sinc, E
x
= (O
h
E
h
) cos c, and E
z
= (O
h
E
h
) sinc.
Based on the geometrical relationship shown in Fig. 4, the Y component of D
y
and E
y
are:
D
y
=
D
x
tan a

D
z
tan(p b c) sin a
; (16)
E
y
=
E
x
tan a

E
z
tan(p b c) sin a
: (17)
2.4. Step. 4. Positions of points B and C
The length of link AB is selected by the designer. Since B
1h
is located on line P
1
, and since the
distance from A
1h
to B
1h
is equal to the length of link AB, the position of B
1h
can be solved. B
1f
is
located at the intersection of the line passing through B
1h
and perpendicular to HF and another
line passing through A
1f
and perpendicular to O
f
A
1f
.
C
1h
is selected on line P
1
between B
1h
and D
h
. C
1f
is located anywhere on the line that passing C
1h
and perpendicular to HF. If C
1f
is selected at the point where this line intersects B
1f
D
f
, as shown
in Fig. 4, it is the toggle position for the mechanism at Position 1. This feature is especially at-
tractive for the design of aircraft landing gear and grinding wheel loader because a locking device
can be added on joint 4 (point C) to turn the mechanism into a structure.
68 A.J. Shih, H.-S. Yan / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 6173
The X, Y, and Z components of C
1
are designated as C
1x
, C
1y
and C
1z
. C
1x
= (O
h
C
1h
) cos c and
C
1z
= (O
h
C
1h
) sin c. Since the selection of C
1f
is arbitrary on the line passing through C
1h
and
perpendicular to HF, C
1y
depends on where the C
1f
is located. If the toggle conguration at
Position 1 is desired (as shown in Fig. 4), then
C
1y
= B
1y
(D
1y
B
1y
)
C
1x
B
x
D
1x
B
1x
: (18)
Following Steps 14, the X, Y, and Z components of six points at Position 1, O, A
1
, B
1
, C
1
, D
and E, are solved.
3. Mechanism analysis
A mathematical model is developed to analyze the locations of points B and C when the link
OA is rotated by an angle k from Position 1, as shown in Fig. 5. The resulting conguration of the
mechanism is called Position 3. Positions of points A, B and C are designated as A
3
, B
3
and C
3
.
The X, Y, and Z components of A
3
are: A
3x
= OAsink, A
3y
= OAcos k, and A
3z
= 0. A point,
A
3
, and a line, ODE, determine the plane P
3
where B
3
and C
3
both located on it. As shown in Fig.
5, the unit vector p is perpendicular to P
3
.
p =
DE OA
3
[DE OA
3
[
; (19)
where OA
3
is the vector from O to A
3
and DE is the vector from D to E.
Another unit vector q is along the direction from A
3
to O, q = OA
3
=OA. r is the unit vector
from A
3
to B
3
and r = p q. The position of B
3
is
B
3
= A
3
ABr; (20)
where AB is the length of link AB.
Fig. 5. Mechanism analysis: solving for positions B
3
and C
3
.
A.J. Shih, H.-S. Yan / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 6173 69
The location of C
3
is solved based on the known lengths of links BC and CD and the locations
of points B
3
and D. The angle between line B
3
D and B
3
C
3
is designated as g, as shown in Fig. 5. g
can be solved using the law of cosines
g = arccos
(BC)
2
(B
3
D)
2
(CD)
2
2(BC)(B
3
D)
" #
; (21)
where BC and CD are the length of links BC and CD and B
3
D is the distance from B
3
to D. The
unit vector s = B
3
D=B
3
D. To nd the location of B
3
, the unit vector t pointed in the direction from
B
3
to C
3
is used. t is obtained by rotating s along p by an angle g, as shown in Fig. 5. Applying the
same concept in Eqs. (12) and (13), t can be found by using the axis rotation matrix [R
g;p
[
t
x
t
y
t
z
8
<
:
9
=
;
= [R
g;p
[
s
x
s
y
s
z
8
<
:
9
=
;
: (22)
There are two possible positions of point C
3
, one has the angle of rotation equals g and another
has the angle of rotation equals g. Position of C
3
is
C
3
= B
3
BCt; (23)
where BC is the length of link BC.
4. Numerical example
An example is presented to illustrate the procedures used to design a spatial 6R mechanism to
guide a cylindrical rigid body between two positions. First, the location of cylindrical rigid body at
Positions 1 and 2 in the X
/
Y
/
Z
/
coordinate system are specied as: A
1
= [1; 1; 0[, v
1
= [0; 0; 1[,
A
2
= [0; 1; 1[, and v
2
= [0; 1; 0[. The lengths and coordinates are measured in unit length, that
could be m, cm, or inch.
The four steps described in Section 2 are used for mechanism synthesize:
Step 1. Select O
z
/ = 1:5. Using Eqs. (5) and (6), O
x
/ = 1:500 and O
y
/ = 2:500. The length of link
OA is calculated as 2.179.
Step 2. Using Eq. (7), a = 37:864. Eqs. (8)(10) calculate the X
/
, Y
/
, and Z
/
components of vec-
tors i, j, and k as: i = [0:826; 0:236; 0:511[, j = [0:229; 0:688; 0:688[, and
k = [0:514; 0:686; 0:514[. Eqs. (12) and (13) are used to rotate vector v
1
to
v
t
= [0:477; 0:241; 0:845[. Using Eqs. (14) and (15), angle b = 116:18. In the XYZ coordinate
system, O = [0; 0; 0[ and A
1
= [0; 2:179; 0[.
Step 3. Select c = 30, O
h
D
h
= 2:5 and O
h
E
h
= 2:7. The X, Y, and Z coordinates of D and E are
D = [2:165; 5:825; 1:250[ and E = [2:338; 6:290; 1:350[.
Step 4. Select the length of link AB=0.5. Assume links BC and CD have equal length, i.e.,
point C is in the middle of B
1
and D in Position 1, as illustrated in Fig. 4. Position 1 is designed
to have toggle conguration at joint 4 (point C). The length of links BC and CD are the same,
BC = CD = 2:079. Positions of points B and C at Position 1 are: B
1
= [0:433; 2:179; 0:250[
and C
1
= [1:299; 4:002; 0:750[.
70 A.J. Shih, H.-S. Yan / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 6173
Procedures in Section 3 are used to nd the positions of the three moving points A, B, and C.
Analysis results, including the X, Y, and Z components of A
3
, B
3
, and C
3
, unit vectors p, q, r, s,
and t, and angle g, are listed in Table 2. In the rst column, angle k = 0:0 represents Position 1 of
the mechanism. These results should match the known conditions obtained in the mechanism
synthesis. This is the rst check of the validity of the analysis. The fth column, g = 37:864,
represents the Position 2 of the mechanism. Three intermediate positions are analyzed. Graphi-
cally, the analysis results of the locations of joints and links are illustrated in Fig. 6.
The analysis results can be further veried by calculating angle b from the analysis and com-
paring it to the known value from mechanism synthesis. Assuming the relative position between
links AB and OA remains the same while the link OA is rotated from Position 1 to 2, point B is
moved from B
1
to B
t
, where B
t
= [1:680; 1:455; 0:250[ in the XYZ coordinate system. The
angle between A
2
B
t
and A
2
B
2
, b, is calculated as 116.18. This matches the results from Step 2 of
the mechanism synthesis and further veries the validity of the analysis.
Table 2
Results of the analysis of the 6R mechanism at ve dierent positions
Angle k (deg) 0.000 9.466 18.932 28.398 37.864
A
3x
0.000 )0.358 )0.707 )1.037 )1.338
A
3y
)2.179 )2.150 )2.062 )1.917 )1.721
A
3z
0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
p
x
)0.500 )0.718 )0.938 )0.723 )0.439
p
y
0.000 0.120 0.322 0.391 0.342
p
z
0.866 0.686 0.126 )0.569 )0.831
q
x
0.000 0.164 0.324 0.476 0.614
q
y
1.000 0.986 0.946 0.880 0.789
q
z
0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
r
x
)0.866 )0.676 )0.119 0.501 0.656
r
y
0.000 0.113 0.041 )0.271 )0.510
r
z
)0.500 )0.728 )0.992 )0.822 )0.557
B
3x
)0.433 )0.697 )0.766 )0.786 )1.010
B
3y
)2.179 )2.093 )2.041 )2.053 )1.976
B
3z
)0.250 )0.364 )0.496 )0.411 )0.278
s
x
)0.417 )0.358 )0.341 )0.336 )0.279
s
y
)0.877 )0.909 )0.922 )0.919 )0.931
s
z
)0.241 )0.216 )0.184 )0.204 )0.235
Angle Z (deg) 0.000 9.008 9.269 9.323 6.070
Angle g (deg) 0.000 9.008 9.269 9.323 6.070
t
x
)0.417 )0.260 )0.327 )0.429 )0.368
t
y
)0.877 )0.960 )0.945 )0.900 )0.912
t
z
)0.241 )0.104 )0.024 )0.073 )0.180
C
3x
)1.299 )1.236 )1.447 )1.679 )1.775
C
3y
)4.002 )4.089 )4.005 )3.924 )3.872
C
3z
)0.750 )0.581 )0.547 )0.562 )0.653
A.J. Shih, H.-S. Yan / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 6173 71
The analysis was also carried out using the ADAMS simulation software. Hinges were used to
represent the revolute joints. The coordinates and orientations of the six joints at Position 1 were
used as the input. Link OA was rotated 37.864. The analysis results of the position of points B
and C matched to that of Table 2. It further veried the model.
5. Concluding remarks
In this paper, a single-loop, spatial movable mechanism with six binary links and six re-
volute joints was used to guide a cylindrical rigid body between two specied positions. This
overconstrained mechanism was able to move due to special geometric constraints. The
characteristic that all six joints of the mechanism remain in a plane was applied in mechanism
synthesis using descriptive geometry as the tool. A detailed example was used to illustrate the
developed synthesis and analysis procedures. The analysis results were veried by dierent
approaches.
The research to use descriptive geometry and graphical methods for mechanism synthesis has
decreased since the advancement of computers and numerical-based methods. This paper illus-
trates that descriptive geometry, which gives insight to the motion of the mechanism, is still a
useful tool in mechanism design, especially in some industrial applications.
Fig. 6. Two projective views of six joints and links at ve dierent positions.
72 A.J. Shih, H.-S. Yan / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 6173
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