Towards Uniformly Distributed Compliance in Compliant Mechanisms: A Multi-Objective Approach

Researchers in the field of optimal synthesis of compliant mechanisms have been working to develop tools that yield distributed compliant devices to perform specific tasks. However, it has been demonstrated in the literature that much of this work has resulted in mechanisms that localize compliance rather than distribute it as desired. In fact, Yin and Ananthasuresh (2003) [1] demonstrate that based on the current formulation of optimality criteria and analysis via the finite element (FE) technique, a lumped compliant device will always exist as the minimizing solution to the objective function. The addition of constraints on allowable strain simply moves the solution back from this objective. Therefore, modification to the standard optimality criteria needs to take place. Yin and Ananthasuresh [1] proposed and compared several approaches that include distributivity-based measures within the optimality criteria, and demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach. In this paper, the authors propose to build on this problem. In a similar manner, a general approach to the topology synthesis problem will be suggested to yield mechanisms in which the compliance is distributed throughout the device. This work will be based on the idea of including compliance distribution directly within the objective functions, while addressing some of the potential limiting factors in past approaches. The technique will be generalized to allow simple addition of criteria in the future, and to deliver optimal designs through to manufacture. This work will first revisit and propose several quantitative definitions for distributed compliant devices. Then, a multi-objective formulation based on a non-dominating sort and Pareto set method will be incorporated that will provide information on the nature of the problem and compatibility of employed objective functions.Copyright © 2006 by ASME