DEVELOPMENT OF HYBRID DRIVE PARALLEL ARM FOR HEAVY MATERIAL HANDLING

This paper presents a hybrid cylinder/wire drive parallel arm. Its workspace is analyzed for the application of manipulating heavy materials in con- struction and ship building industries. The conventional Stewart platform and a multiple wire drive mechanism are compared, and hybrid drive mechanisms are con- sidered in analysis and designing. The total number of cylinder and wire is fixed to seven based on the force closure principle. The actuated cylinder force and wire tension are analyzed based on the kinematics and statics formulated for an arbitrary combination of cylinder and wire mechanism, then its work space is evaluated. An arm mechanism with three cylinders and four wires is proposed in 'the application of manipulating a precasting concrete board with 3 X 6 X 0 .2(m) in size and 10(t) in weight.

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