Mobility Criteria of Planar Single-Loop N-Bar Chains With Prismatic Joints

Abstract

This paper presents the extension of the N-bar rotatability laws to N-bar chains containing prismatic joints. The extension is based on the principle that a prismatic joint may be regarded as a revolute joint located at infinity in the direction normal to the sliding path. The effects of long and short links, full rotatability, linkage classification, and formation of branches and sub-branches are discussed. The extension provides a consistent method to understand all aspects of linkage rotatability disregarding the existence of prismatic joints. The results are demonstrated by several examples.