On hybrid flexure hinges

Abstract

The paper introduces two hybrid flexure hinges: right-circular corner-filleted (RCCF) and right-circular elliptical (RCE) hinges. Closed-form compliance equations are formulated. Checked by the finite element analysis, the theoretical formulation data are within 8 percent error margins. The results indicate that the RCCF flexures have the best rotation-compliance over the RCE flexures and right-circular (RC) flexures. RCCF and RCE flexures are both more rotation-compliant than the right-circular ones. Whereas, the three types of flexure hinges mentioned above perform equally in terms of preserving the center of the rotation center.