Burns (1964) and Burns and Crossley (1968) approximated flexible couplers as a rigid link with a length five-sixths of the flexible segment. This method of modeling allows well-known rigid-body analysis methods to be used in the analysis of compliant mechanisms (Salamon, 1989). It is used to unify compliant mechanism and rigid-body mechanism theory by providing a method of modeling the nonlinear deflection of flexible beams. The pseudo-rigid-body model is used to simplify the analysis and design of compliant mechanisms. Vibration and noise caused by the turning and sliding joints of rigid-body mechanisms may also be reduced in some applications by using compliant mechanisms. This fact has often been used in the design of instrumentation. The backlash in compliant mechanisms may be reduced or eliminated because there are no (or fewer)В interconnecting pieces. Backlash is caused by the tolerances of interconnecting pieces. Because compliant mechanisms use bending material instead of traditional pins and rigid hinges, the wear can be greatly reduced (because no parts are rubbing on each other). Eventually this can rub away or modify the material, which effectively changes the geometry and movement of the mechanism. Mechanical wear happens when parts rub on one another as they move. Rigid-body mechanisms get their motion from physical pins and hinges sliding against one another.

Traditional mechanisms can lose precision due to backlash and wear.В Compliant mechanisms can allow precise motion by reducing or eliminating backlash and wear.

Compliant mechanisms howell pdf