Design of a Truss Body Parallel Manipulator to Avoid the Stress Concentration

Abstract

In this research, we present a new design for a parallel manipulator which has a truss body architecture to sustain a large stress and to handle a heavy load. Using the three prismatic joints, the proposed manipulator has a truss type base structure and the moving plate is located on the truss type base. This type of manipulator could sustain larger stress concentrations compared to conventional parallel manipulators. The research objective is to develop a truss body parallel manipulator which has 3 degrees of freedom while retaining the advantages of high stiffness and compact size characteristics of parallel manipulators. We describe the structure of the truss body parallel manipulator, including the kinematic characteristic of the moving plate and analyze the advantage of the proposed manipulator concerning the stress concentration. A prototype of the truss body parallel manipulator has been developed and tested.