Gravity balanced compliant shell mechanisms

Radaelli, G.; Herder, J.L.

doi:10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2017.04.021

Gravity balanced compliant shell mechanisms

Title

Gravity balanced compliant shell mechanisms

Author

Radaelli, G. (TU Delft Mechatronic Systems Design; Laevo)
Herder, J.L. (TU Delft Mechatronic Systems Design)

Date

2017

Abstract

The research on compliant shell mechanisms is a new and promising expansion of the well established compliant mechanisms research area. Benefits of compliant shell mechanisms include being spatial and slender, having organic shapes and their high tailorability of the load-displacement response. This work focusses on the design of a shell with tailored force output at large deformations by means of a shape optimization procedure. The procedure is applied to create a statically balanced mechanism where the self-weight of the shell and an additional payload is balanced by the elastic forces of the deforming shell. The optimization is based on an isogeometric numerical simulation. A physical demonstrator is constructed by vacuum forming a PETG polymer sheet. The result of a force measurement on the prototype shows a good qualitative match, although quantitatively the discrepancies are substantial.

Subject

Compliant mechanisms
Compliant shell mechanisms
Constant force mechanisms
Gravity balancing
Static balancing

To reference this document use:

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:60a2411e-c011-4c8f-afca-fe85aeda9bb7

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2017.04.021

Embargo date

2019-06-11

ISSN

0020-7683

Source

International Journal of Solids and Structures, 118-119, 78-88