Elastic Model of Flexure-Based Linkage under Motion Constrains and External Load

For a flexible mechanism with several-stage flexible linkage, the flexible linkage is equivalent to work under the actions of an external load and motion constrains. This paper aims to deal with a simplified elastic model on the kinematic characteristics of a flexure-based linkage under these conditions. The elastic modeling method was developed based on motion constrains and the elastic beam theorem(EBT). Effects of a constant force, an elastic force with a constant stiffness, and the materials were taken into account. The proposed modeling method was verified by comparing with the finite element method(FEM). Further, the developed modeling method was used to optimize a flexure-based mechanism based on a two-stage flexible linkage to realize a maximum displacement amplification ratio of 6.56. The flexure-based mechanism was employed to drive a miniature sucker, which performed with a negative pressure of 2.45 kPa at a frequency of 13.2 kHz.