• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.109-121
• /
• 1996

This paper presents how the input forces along the prismatic joints of a parallel manipulator are transmitted to the upper platform. In order to consider force transmission and moment transmission seperately the Jacobian matrix for parallel manipulators is splitted into two parts. Magnitudes of input forces on the six actuators at a given manipulator configuration which generate maximum/minimum output force with no moment generated on the platform are obtained through the singular value decomposition of a matrix involving the Jacobian. Similarly the directions of the input forces to obtain only the rotation of the platform have been analyzed. Using the singular values a simple equation for the volume of ellipsoid which is a good tool for manipulability measure is provided. Obtained results could be useful in determinimg design parameters like radius of plaform, angles between joints, etc. Simulations are porvided.