Simulation driven performance characterization of a spatial compliant parallel mechanism

The integration of compliant mechanism and parallel mechanism provide an effective solution for medical micromanipulation, especially for the scenarios where high precision and high dexterity are required. The development of spatial compliant parallel mechanism (CPM) takes advantages of the features for both compliant mechanism and parallel mechanism to generate greater comprehensive performances. In this research, a novel three degrees-of-freedom CPM is designed and analyzed. Since performance characterization is one important factor that greatly affects the application potential, the performance indices including stiffness, dexterity, manipulability and workspace are mapped respectively. The finite element analysis is conducted to prove the feasibility of the proposed design. The multi-parameters improvement is implemented to demonstrate a way how to optimize the performance of the compliant parallel mechanism based on a generic method.