Comparative analysis and synthesis of six-bar mechanisms formed by two serially connected spherical and planar four-bar linkages

This paper deals with the comparative analysis and synthesis of the six-bar mechanisms formed by two spherical and planar four-bar linkages. The comparative analysis is carried out for a class of mechanical systems with the same output angles of oscillation. In order to obtain a consistent comparison, the input and output axes of the spherical linkages are placed parallel (in this way, the spatial mechanisms may be compared to planar four-bar mechanisms). The obtained results are compared using three generalized non-dimensional indexes, which characterize velocity, acceleration and dynamic power properties. On the basis of numerical simulations the correlation expressions are deducted. The comparative analysis has shown that for the studied class of mechanisms the spherical linkages have better properties than planar linkages.