Enumeration of Optimal Pin-Jointed Bistable Compliant Mechanisms with Non-Crossing Members

M. Ohsaki, Kyoto University
N. Katoh, Kyoto University
T. Kinoshita, Kyoto University
S. Tanigawa, Kyoto University
D. Avis, Université McGill
I. Streinu, Smith College

This document has been relocated to https://scholarworks.smith.edu/csc_facpubs/293/

Abstract

An optimization approach is presented for enumerating pin-jointed bistable compliant mechanisms. In the first stage, the statically determinate trusses with non-crossing members containing a given set of nodes and some pre-defined members are regarded as minimally rigid framework or a Laman framework, and are enumerated without repetitions by the graph enumeration algorithm. In the second stage, the nodal locations and the cross-sectional areas are optimized under mechanical constraints, where the snapthrough behavior is extensively utilized to produce a pin-jointed bistable compliant mechanism. In the numerical examples, many bistable compliant mechanisms are generated to show the effectiveness of the proposed method. © 2008 Springer-Verlag.