The isomorphic design and analysis of a novel plane-space polyhedral metamorphic mechanism

This paper introduces the concept of isomorphism into the study of metamorphic mechanisms and presents the design of the isomorphic metamorphic mechanism, in which the structure is the same but the shape topology is different. A novel plane-space polyhedral metamorphic mechanism governed by the edge forming principle is developed. This mechanism is able to achieve the structural transformation between plane topology and space topology, and it has broad prospects for engineering application. The polyhedral metamorphic mechanism can be evolved into isomorphic mechanisms, like the spherical metamorphic mechanism and conical metamorphic mechanism, according to the scale relation between links. The evolution principle and movement conditions of the isomorphic mechanism are analyzed. The position and velocity of joints of novel plane-space isomorphism metamorphic mechanism and the workspace of these mechanisms are compared and analyzed using screw theory, and the configuration expanded analysis of novel plane-space metamorphic mechanism is performed. Finally, potential engineering applications are listed. The research results provide a reference for the reasonable choice of application configuration for such mechanisms.