Design and Analyses of a Macro Parallel Robot with Flexure Hinges for Micro Assembly Tasks

In this paper a macro parallel robot is presented in which conventional bearings are replaced by pseudo-elastic flexure hinges. The robot consists of a spatial parallel structure with three translational degrees of freedom and is driven by three linear direct drives. The structure has been optimised with respect to workspace and transmission ratio. Additionally, in simulations with the FEM tool ANSYS different geometrical arrangements and combinations of flexure hinges have been investigated with respect to the dynamic behaviour of the compliant mechanism. The main frequencies are in the range of 120 Hz and due to the symmetrical character of the structure the vibrations of the compliant mechanism should be damped quite fast.