Topology Synthesis of a 1-Translational and 3-Rotational Parallel Manipulator With an Articulated Traveling Plate

Driven by the increasing demands of the aircraft assemblage for the pose-adjustment equipment in the large-scale component docking, this paper carries out the topology synthesis of a 1-translational and 3-rotational (1T3R) four degrees of freedom (DoF) parallel manipulator with an articulated traveling plate. First, the articulated traveling plate is defined as that includes more than one rigid body articulated by one or more kinematic joints. Then, the relationship among the DoFs of the parallel manipulator and the articulated traveling plate and the number of the in-parts are proposed. According to the agreement of the arrangement way between the open-loop limbs and the in-parts, the topology synthesis procedure of the 1T3R 4-DoF parallel manipulator with an articulated traveling plate is proposed. Finally, their topology structures are obtained by discussing those of four types in terms of 1D-H, 1D-V type with opposite layout and 1D-H, 1D-V type with adjacent layout, in which the topology structures exist only for 1D-H and 1D-V type with opposite layout