Determinate Design and Analytical Analysis of a Class of Symmetrical Flexure Guiding Mechanisms for Linear Actuators

This paper designs and analyses a class of single-axis translational flexure guiding mechanisms for linear actuators. The proposed flexure mechanisms have symmetrical configurations to eliminate parasitic motion for better precision and can provide large stiffness in the constraint directions and low stiffness in the actuation direction. Each flexure linear mechanism is composed of identical wire beams uniformly distributed in two planes (perpendicular to the actuation direction) with the minimal number of over-constraints. Analytical (symbolic) models are derived to quickly reflect effects of different parameters on performance characteristics of the flexure mechanism, enabling dimensional synthesis of different types of mechanisms. An optimal, compact, and symmetrical, flexure linear mechanism design is finally presented and prototyped with focused discussions on its primary motion.