Design and nonlinear analysis of a 6-DOF compliant parallel manipulator with spatial beam flexure hinges

• We proposed a 6-DOF compliant parallel manipulator in hexaglide form.
• We deduced the load–displacement relation of the PSS-typed limb in closed-form.
• We derived a novel solution to inverse kinematic problem of the manipulator.

In this paper, a compliant parallel manipulator with six compliant limbs is proposed for micro positioning applications. The load–displacement model of a single compliant limb is established using a nonlinear closed-form spatial beam model. The inverse solution to the compliant parallel manipulator is then implicitly derived by applying load equilibrium to the moving platform. Finally, the compliant model of the limb and the implicit inverse kinematic solution of the manipulator are fully tested by FEA. Discrepancies between results of the presented models and the FEA are analyzed within planned workspaces. The validations demonstrate that accuracies of the proposed models are acceptable and can be improved by shrinking the planned workspace.