Considering Thickness in Cylindrical Developable Mechanisms
Open Access
- Author:
- Jhawar, Siddharth
- Graduate Program:
- Engineering Design
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- June 29, 2021
- Committee Members:
- Scarlett Miller, Program Head/Chair
Jared Butler, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Chris Mc Comb, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- Developable Mechanisms
Shape Conforming Mechanism
Zero-thickness condition
Mechanism in thickness - Abstract:
- The field of Developable Mechanisms (DMs) holds potential to support the creation of compact mechanisms and to reduce general mechanism footprint, both of which are important considerations for many application areas. However, currently available literature in the field predominantly discusses the design, motion, and construction of DMs when they are modeled as zero-thickness geometries that conform to or lie within the developable surfaces from which the DMs take their shape. Considering zero-thickness introduces potential difficulties when fabricating DMs as fabrication requires thickness which can lead to unexpected behavior. Moreover, this work posits that this approach might lead to the omission of potentially valuable DM variants which are made possible solely by the virtue of body thickness. The current work addresses this gap by exploring the changes that are necessary to support the modeling and consideration of shape-conforming mechanisms with an inherent thickness similar to DMs. This study analyzes the utility of a reference surface construct as a modeling guide when it works under the zero-thickness assumption and explores its limitations. The study then proposes an alternative novel approach of modeling DMs on thick bodies using boundary surfaces as the guiding construct.