Abstract

This talk will discuss how (i) zero stiffness large deflection structures and (ii) the analytical solution for their large deflections can be developed. Large deflection structures rely on compliance for their motion, but the stiffness associated with their motion becomes a great challenge to their mechanical efficiency, as a major part of the input energy is used for deflection of the structure. While conventionally, optimization is used in order to reduce the stiffness of compliant mechanisms, we propose a different approach: static balancing, which compensates for the stiffness and allows for near-100% efficiency while at the same time the structure robustness will be remaining the same. This results in statically balanced compliant mechanisms (SBCM), which are zero stiffness monolithic structures with near zero actuation force to deflect its members or act against gravity (i.e. constant potential energy). To this end, an analytical method to create large deflection analytical solution of SBCM will be introduced, some real life examples of small scale large deflection SBCM will be given and some thoughts on challenges ahead and future directions will be discussed