Numerical atlas method for path generation of spherical four-bar mechanism

In this paper, the relationship between the harmonic component of the coupler curves and the harmonic component of the rotation-angle function is discovered. Based on this finding, a numerical atlas database comprising of more than 6 million of basic dimensional types is built up. The formulas which can compute the position for coupler point, real size and installing dimensions of the spherical four-bar mechanism are deduced. Based on those theoretical formulas and the numerical atlas database of the harmonic characteristic parameters, the problem of path synthesis of spherical four-bar mechanism is solved. Finally, an example is given to show the feasibility of this approach. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.