APPLICATION OF THE STEWART PLATFORM IN THE HIGH SPEED, HIGH ACCURACY DOMAIN

THE STEWART PLATFORM IS A SIX DEGREE OF FREEDOM PARALLEL MANIPULATOR. IT HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY APPLIED IN LOW SPEED,LOW ACCURACY APPLICATIONS. THE STEWART PLATFORM PROVIDES EXCEPTIONAL MECHANICAL STIFFNESS AND IS EASY AND COST EFFECTIVE TO MANUFACTURE. NO RESEARCH HAS BEEN DONE IN THE APPLICATION OF THE STEWART PLATFORM AS A HIGH SPEED, HIGH ACCURACY MANUFACTURING OR ASSEMBLY MACHINE. THIS REALM OF OPERATION DEVELOPS SIGNIFICANT NONLINEAR INERTIAL TERMS IN THE MASS DYNAMICS, WHICH RENDER CONTROL DIFFICULT. RESEARCHWILL BE CONDUCTED IN KINEMATIC SYNTHESIS TECHNIQUES TO DECOUPLE AND LINEARIZE THE MASS DYNAMICS. A STATE VARIABLE MODEL OF THE MECHANISM WILL BE DEVELOPED BASED UPON THE LINEARIZED EQUATIONS OF MOTION. CONTROL WILL BE SIMULATED FOR HIGH SPEED, HIGH ACCURACY MOTION. THE SIMULATION WILL REFLECT COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE COMPONENTS. THE INFLUENCE OFEXTRA, REDUNDANT LEGS IN ELIMATING BACKLASH AND ENHANCING STABILITY WILL BE STUDIED. THE STEWART PLATFORM ALSO HAS POTENTIAL TO SIMULTANEOUSLY ACT AS A POSITIONER AND ACTIVELY REJECT EXTERNALLY APPLIED VIBRATION LOADS. THE FEASIBILITY OF THIS WILL BE DEVELOPED.