A Novel Method for Spatial Structural Kinematic Analysis

Kinematic analysis is the first task that needs to be solved for further real-life problems such as machine dynamics and durability, machine balancing, and optimization, chemistry, etc. Currently, there are many methods to analyze the kinematic problem, for instance: vector graphics method, vector-analytic method, or Dennavit-Hartenberg-Craig matrix method. Although each method has its advantages, they have mostly encountered difficulties in establishing equations associated with complicated spatial structures. This research proposed a novel method, entitled “'perpendicular projection method” to solve the problem of spatial structural kinematic analysis. This is an approximate solution method that combines the use of generalized coordinates and direction cosine matrices. With this method, the problem of kinematic analysis of spatial structures will be solved simply and easily by establishing connection equations as well as simulating the motion of spatial structures. This method was then applied in conducting the kinematic analysis of a spatial mechanism with 1 rotating joint (R), 1 ball joint (S), 1 translational joint (P), and one cylindrical joint (C). The calculated results, including the velocity, acceleration of generalized coordinates, angular velocity, angular acceleration of the links, velocity, and acceleration of the center of mass of the links, showed the efficiency of the proposed method.