An efficient position solution for the fourbar linkage

Abstract

The position analysis of fourbar linkages has a long history, dating from the 1800s to the present day. Here, position analysis is taken to mean: 1) finding the two remaining unknown angles on the linkage with an input angle given; 2) finding the path of a point on the linkage once all angles are known. The efficiency of position analysis has taken on increasing importance in recent years with the widespread use of path optimisation software for robotic and mechanism design applications. With this in mind, we have developed a more efficient method for obtaining the position solution for the fourbar linkage that is well-suited to design optimisation. This paper presents a comparison of the computational complexity of the most common solution algorithms, and shows that the new method is up to 26% faster than the method most commonly shown in the literature.