Kinematics Analysis of Multi-link Mechanisms Under the Interaction of Motion Pair Clearance and Elastic Links

A dynamic model for a rigid–flexible coupling multi-link mechanism with motion pair clearance is established in this work. The contact-impact force is used to describe the clearance between the joints. Then, the frictional force is expressed by a modified Coulomb model, and the drive link is flexibly modified by ANSYS. Furthermore, ADAMS simulation software is used to solve the influences of clearance, flexibility, and load on the displacement, speed, and acceleration of the multi-link mechanism. The simulation results show that the clearance size, the number of clearances, the flexibility, and the load have different effects on the dynamic response of the multi-link mechanism, and that the impact of load and flexibility is relatively large. This work offers guidance for the dynamic optimization design of multi-link mechanisms, and is significant for analyzing the motion accuracy of multi-link mechanisms.