On the Bases of Wrench Spaces for the Kinematic and Dynamic Analysis of Mechanisms

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to find out a computational procedure for the kinematic and dynamic analysis of a mechanism with multiple loops having motion spaces of a Lie algebra or Lie algebras. The basis of a motion space of the loop is determined such that it consists of passive joints axes in a loop, and a basis of a wrench space is determined to be its dual basis. The analysis of a closed loop mechanism can be done by selecting loop-cut-joints and computing values of wrenches acting on these joints from the condition that virtual works of passive joints are zero. By expressing these wrenches in the coordinate vectors on the dual bases, the concise analysis procedure can be obtained. Because a formulation for the analysis is developed based on the bases consisting of passive joint axes and their dual bases, the computational procedure can be applied to a mechanism with any Lie algebras.