Interactive Weighted Distance Approach for Identification of Distinct Mechanisms Derived from the Kinematic Chains

This work presents a new method to identify distinct mechanisms (DM) derived from the given family of kinematic chains (KC's). KC's and their derived mechanisms are represented in the form of weighted distance matrix [WD] using the graph theoretic approach. Two structural invariants derived from the eigen spectrum of [WD] matrix are the sum of absolute eigen values (WDΣ) and maximum absolute eigen value (WDmax). These invariants are used as composite identification number of a KC and to identify all distinct mechanisms derived from the family of 1-F simple jointed KC's. The identification of distinct KC's and their derived mechanisms is necessary to select the best possible mechanism at conceptual stage of design.