Kinematic Synthesis of a Geared Five-Bar Function Generator

Abstract

A general closed form method of planar kinematic synthesis, using complex numbers to represent link vectors, is applied to the synthesis of a geared five-bar linkage for function generation. Equations are derived and a computer program is developed to yield several solutions. Angular displacements of the input, a cycloidal crank, and the output, a simple follower, are used as linear analogs of the independent and the dependent variables, respectively. A method is demonstrated for six precision conditions (three first, three second-order precision conditions). Numerical examples are included, and the structural error of these geared five-bars are compared to that of optimized four-bar linkages generating the same functions.