Compliant Mechanisms: Design of Flexure Hinges

With a rigorous and comprehensive coverage, the second edition of Compliant Mechanisms: Design of Flexure Hinges provides practical answers to the design and analysis of devices that incorporate flexible hinges. Complex-shaped flexible-hinge mechanisms are generated from basic elastic segments by means of a bottom-up compliance (flexibility) approach. The same compliance method and the classical finite element analysis are utilized to study the quasi-static and dynamic performances of these compliant mechanisms. This book offers easy-to-use mathematical tools to investigate a wealth of flexible-hinge configurations and two- or three-dimensional compliant mechanism applications.

FEATURES

• Introduces a bottom-up compliance-based approach to characterize the flexibility of new and existing flexible hinges of straight- and curvilinear-axis configurations
• Develops a consistent linear lumped-parameter compliance model to thoroughly describe the quasi-static and dynamic behavior of planar/spatial, serial/parallel flexible-hinge mechanisms
• Utilizes the finite element method to analyze the quasi-statics and dynamics of compliant mechanisms by means of straight- and curvilinear-axis flexible-hinge elements
• Covers miscellaneous topics such as stress concentration, yielding and related maximum load, precision of rotation of straight- and circular-axis flexible hinges, temperature effects on compliances, layered flexible hinges and piezoelectric actuation/sensing
• Offers multiple solved examples of flexible hinges and flexible-hinge mechanisms.

This book should serve as a reference to students, researchers, academics and anyone interested to investigate precision flexible-hinge mechanisms by linear model-based methods in various areas of mechanical, aerospace or biomedical engineering, as well as in robotics and micro-/nanosystems.

Nicolae Lobontiu is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alaska Anchorage, USA. Dr. Lobontiu's research interests for the last two decades have focused on flexure/flexible hinges and macro/micro-scale hinge-based compliant mechanisms. He has published several journal papers on these research topics and is the author of four other books: System Dynamics for Engineering Students - second edition, Dynamics of Microelectromechanical Systems, Mechanical Design of Microresonators, and Mechanics of Microelectromechanical Systems (with E. Garcia). Professor Lobontiu's teaching background includes courses in dynamics of systems, controls, mechanical vibrations, finite element analysis, dynamics, and mechanics of materials.