A continuum mechanic design aid for non-planar compliant mechanisms

Abstract

This thesis documents the development of CoMeT, a conceptual evaluation and detailed synthesis aid for the design of compliant mechanisms. The vision behind CoMeT is making the limiting step in flexure design the speed of the user's imagination, not proficiency with software tools. Sophisticated kinematic analysis routines are seamlessly integrated into a three dimensional finite element program. A user may interface through both a convenient GUI and the powerful MATLAB command line. CoMeT's element models have been shown to generally lie within 3% of traditional FEA predictions. The experimentally determined response of a typical complex mechanism differed by less than 10%, and CoMeT proved to be just as accurate as conventional FEA. In a brief user interaction study, a subject with one hour of CoMeT training was able to perform a two-variable optimization in half the time it took with traditional software. Observations suggest that CoMeT encourages the conceptual thought and high-level insights that are the key to success in mechanism design.