Bistable mechanisms have two stable equilibrium positions. Power input is not needed for bistable mechanisms to maintain any of their two stable positions. Actuation is only necessary to switch from one stable position to another. Because of their unique features, there are various applications that include switches, valves, closures and many other consumer products. Compliant mechanisms take advantage of elastic deformation to realize mechanism functions. Their jointless structures bring them remarkable merits. Bistable compliant mechanisms achieve bistable behavior based on recoverable deflections of flexible elements instead of relative motions of kinematic joints in conventional rigid-body bistable mechanisms. Precompressed beams with two clamped ends have two symmetric first mode buckled shapes and can be actuated to snap from one buckled shape to another. The two buckled shapes match the two stable equilibrium positions of bistable compliant mechanisms. Because of buckling instability, large deflection and integrated force and motion characteristics, designing precompressed beams for bistable mechanisms is not trivial. The first mode buckled shape is derived for a precompressed beam. The critical force is analyzed for a precompressed beam to snap between its two buckled shapes. Precompressed beams are synthesized through thickness modulation to improve their stability. The results from this paper provide a guideline for analyzing and synthesizing precompressed beams as bistable compliant mechanisms. Bistable compliant mechanisms are synthesized in this thesis to have optimal performance through pre-stressed beam model using ANSYS.


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    Title :

    Analysis and synthesis of bistable compliant mechanisms using precompressed beams


    Contributors:
    Dews, Joy (author)

    Publication date :

    2016-08-01


    Type of media :

    Miscellaneous


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



    Classification :

    DDC:    629