Elasto-dynamic analysis of a novel 2-DoF rotational parallel mechanism with an articulated travelling platform

This paper carries out the elasto-dynamic analysis of a novel 2 degrees-of-freedom (DoF) rotational parallel mechanism (RPM) with an articulated travelling platform by means of kineto-elasto dynamic method. The architecture of the proposed 2-DoF RPM is firstly described, and then its kinematic analysis is carried out by closed-loop vector method. On the basis of finite element analysis, the elasto-dynamic models of movable components are established before assembling to formulate the elasto-dynamic equations of the whole mechanism in the light of deformation compatibility conditions. The free vibration equation is then achieved to evaluate the natural frequency of the novel 2-DoF RPM. Finally, an example is illustrated and the results are verified by finite element software. It shows that the relatively high natural frequencies and good dynamic performance make the novel 2-DoF RPM a promising solution for pose-adjusting module of 5-DoF machine centre.