Planar and Spherical Four-Bar Linkage Vi-Vj Algebraic Input-Output Equations

The algebraic polynomial input–output (IO) equations relating any two of the relative joint displacement parameters, called vi and vj, between any of the six distinct pairs of rigid links in arbitrary planar and spherical four-bar mechanisms are derived. First, the forward kinematics transformation matrices of the corresponding serial kinematic chains are computed in terms of their Denavit–Hartenberg parameters, but with all angles converted to tangent half-angle parameters. These matrices are mapped to their corresponding Study soma coordinates. The serial kinematic chain is closed by equating the soma coordinates to the identity array. Algebraic polynomial elimination methods are then used to obtain a single polynomial in terms of only the design and the selected IO joint displacement parameters. This yields six independent algebraic IO Equations for each of the planar and spherical 4R linkages; the same techniques are applied to derive six additional algebraic IO equations for each of the RRRP and PRRP planar linkages providing a catalogue of 24. The utility of these IO equation sets is demonstrated via discussion of the associated mobility and design parameter spaces.