A New Graph Representation for the Automatic Kinematic Analysis of Planetary Spur-Gear Trains

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new graph representation to represent the kinematic structure of a planetary spur-gear train efficiently. Based on the graph representation, the kinematic analysis of planetary spur-gear trains is largely simplified. An interactive computer program is developed for the kinematic analysis of planetary spur-gear trains with any number of degrees of freedom. By only inputting the graph representation of a planetary spur-gear train and the data for the mating gear pairs, all possible fundamental circuits are determined and the rotational displacement equations are derived and solved automatically.