The classic Burmester problem aims at finding the geometric parameters of a planar four-bar linkage for a prescribed set of finitely separated poses. The synthesis related to the Burmester problem deals with revolute-revolute (RR)⁠, prismatic-revolute (PR)⁠, and revolute-prismatic (RP) dyads. A PR dyad is a special case of the RR dyad, namely, a dyad of this kind with its fixed joint center at infinity; a similar interpretation applies to the RP dyad. The special nature of dyads with one P joint warrants a special treatment, outside of the general methods of four-bar linkage synthesis, which target mainly RR dyads. In proposing robust computational means to synthesize PR and RP dyads, we adopt an invariant formulation, which, additionally, sheds light on the underlying geometry.

Issue Section:
Technical Briefs
Keywords:
couplings, design engineering, geometry, joining processes, Burmester problem, four-bar linkage, parallelism condition, prismatic-revolute dyads
Topics:
Linkages, Geometry
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Copyright © 2008
 by American Society of Mechanical Engineers
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