Kinematics Analysis of a Leg Mechanism as a Motion Converter

Abstract

This paper presents kinematics analysis of a leg mechanism for converting linear motion into rotary motion to be used as a Regenerative Shock Absorber (RSA). The kinematics analysis determines the positions, the velocities and the accelerations when a leg mechanism is subjected to a linearly reciprocating motion. The main objectives of this paper are to obtain valid mathematical models and to figure out the ability of the mechanism converting motion. The work carried out in this paper includes deriving and analyzing mathematical model using analytical kinematics. A numerical simulation is used to show the response of the mathematical models. The validation is performed by comparing the result from kinematic simulation software and numerical simulation of the mathematical models. The performance of a leg mechanism is evaluated under sinusoidal displacement input for typical amplitudes and frequencies. The validation results show that the proposed mathematical models are generally valid. Moreover, the mechanism can convert 0.04 m of linear motion into 116.84 of rotation motion.