Modeling Planar Joints With Clearance Between the Guide and Roller in Mechanisms

Abstract

In mechanisms, the guide and roller form joints with clearance and the roller may make contact with the convex surface or concave surface of the guide. Correctly modeling this type of joint is critical in a mechanism's dynamic performance analysis. This paper proposes a contact kinematic model and a hybrid contact force model for the planar joint and investigates both the convex and concave contact cases. The contact kinematic model is derived from the relative motion between the guide and roller and the hybrid contact force model consists of an elastic force and a damping force. The sliding door mechanism is used as an illustrative example to demonstrate the proposed models. Experimental data are collected for a vehicle's sliding door mechanism. Results show that the proposed models are effective and the simulation results match the general trend of experimental data based on RMS errors.