Design and optimization of large stroke flexure mechanisms

Flexure-based mechanisms are widely used in many small stroke precision applications due to the absence of play and friction, resulting in highly deterministic and predictable behavior. However, for large stroke applications, flexure-based mechanisms are often avoided due to the strong decrease in support stiffness and load-bearing capacity when subjected to large deflections.

To improve the potential of flexure-based mechanisms for large stroke applications, an optimization strategy is combined with design principles for flexure-based systems to obtain new design topologies for flexure-based equivalents of traditional bearings. This approach has been used to develop and optimize a large stroke flexure-based revolute, universal and spherical joint. To demonstrate the potential of large stroke flexure joints, a fully flexure-based 6-DOF hexapod robot is presented, utilizing large range of motion flexure joints.