• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.414-430
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• 1996

In this paper, a new kinematic structure of a parallel manipulator with six Cartesian degrees of freedom is proposed. It consists of a platform which is connected to a fixed base by means of 3-PPSP(parameters P, S denote the prismatic, spherical joints) subchains. Each subchain has a link which is concected to a passive prismatic joint at the one end and a passive spherical joint at the other. The spherical joint is then attached to perpendicularly arranged prismatic actuators which are fixed at the base. The spherical joint is then attached to perpendicularly arranged prismatic actuators which are fixed at the base. This arrangement provides a basis to control all six Cartesian degrees of motion of the platform in space. Due to its efficient architecture, the colsed-form solutions of the inverse and forward kinematics can be obtained. As a consequence, this new kinematic structure can be servo controlled using simple inverse kinematics becaese forward kinematics allows for measuring the platform's position and orientation in Cartesian space. Furthermore, the proposed structure provides an effective functional workspace. Series of simulations are performed to verify the results of the kinematics analyses.