Stiffness Analysis of 3-PRS Parallel Kinematic Mechanism

Abstract

Parallel kinematic manipulators have a well advantage over the serial manipulators as a result of their increased stiffness and load carrying capacity. This advantage has increased parallel mechanisms' use in a variety of applications. This article discusses the stiffness analysis of prismatic revolute and spherical (3-PRS) parallel mechanisms in detail. A simple and comprehensive approach is presented to estimate stiffness model of 3-PRS mechanism.
3PRS manipulator has three identical limbs with each limb has prismatic revolute and spherical joint.  The proposed 3-PRS mechanism's CAD model is created using Autodesk® inventor professional software. Forward and inverse kinematic model are available.   Stiffness models are made analytically as well as the CAD model and analysed using FEA analysis. Analytically and FEA analysis of the CAD model are compared. The results are very close to CAD model, thereby supporting the validity of the presented approach.