Mechanism Design: Enumeration of Kinematic Structures According to Function / Edition 1

by Lung-Wen Tsai

Overview

Traditionally, mechanisms are created by designer's intuition, ingenuity, and experience. However, such an ad hoc approach cannot ensure the identification of all possible design alternatives, nor does it necessarily lead to optimum design. Mechanism Design: Enumeration of Kinematic Structures According to Function introduces a methodology for systematic creation and classification of mechanisms.

With a partly analytical and partly algorithmic approach, the author uses graph theory, combinatorial analysis, and computer algorithms to create kinematic structures of the same nature in a systematic and unbiased manner. He sketches mechanism structures, evaluating them with respect to the remaining functional requirements, and provides numerous atlases of mechanisms that can be used as a source of ideas for mechanism and machine design.

He bases the book on the idea that some of the functional requirements of a desired mechanism can be transformed into structural characteristics that can be used for the enumeration of mechanisms. The most difficult problem most mechanical designers face at the conceptual design phase is the creation of design alternatives. Mechanism Design: Enumeration of Kinematic Structures According to Function presents you with a methodology that is not available in any other resource.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780849309014
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/19/2000
Series:	Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Lung-Wen Tsai

Table of Contents

Introduction. Basic Concepts of Graph Theory. Structural Representations of Mechanisms. Structural Analysis of Mechanisms. Enumeration of Graphs of Kinematic Chains. Classification of Mechanisms. Epicyclic Gear Trains. Automotive Mechanisms. Robotic Mechanisms. APPENDICES- A. Solving m Equations in n Unknowns. B. Atlas of Contracted Graphs. C. Atlas of Graphs of Kinematic Chains. D. Atlas of Planar Bar Linkages. E. Atlas of Spatial One-DOF Kinematic Chains. F. Atlas of Epicyclic Gear Trains. G. Atlas of Epicylic Gear Transmission Mechanisms.

Editorial Reviews

"…The topics covered in the book have wide applications in modern engineering technology."
-Frank Kreith
Editor of the CRC Mechanical Engineering Series

topics covered in the book have wide applications in modern engineering technology."
-Frank Kreith
Editor of the CRC Mechanical Engineering Series

From the Publisher

A textbook for a senior or first-year graduate course in the systematic design of mechanisms in which Tsai (mechanical engineering, U. of California-Riverside) introduces a systematic methodology for creating and classifying mechanisms to replace, or at least augment, the tradition intuition, ingenuity, and experience of designers. His approach, partly analytical and partly algorithmic, is based on the idea that during the conceptual design phase, some of the functional requirements of a desired mechanism can be transformed into structural characteristics that can in turn be employed for the systematic enumeration of mechanisms. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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