Dimensional synthesis of rack-and-pinion steering

mechanism using a novel synthesis equation

Neider Romero  (  neider.romero@posgrad.ufsc.br )
Federal University of Santa Catarina: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
Rodrigo Vieira 
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina Centro Tecnologico
Daniel Martins 
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina Centro Tecnologico
Anderson Romero 
Universidad de Antioquía: Universidad de Antioquia

Research Article

Keywords: Bilateration matrices, Optimal synthesis, Rack-and-pinion, Steering mechanisms

Posted Date: March 28th, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2626512/v1

License:   This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.  
Read Full License
Dimensional synthesis of rack-and-pinion steering mech-
anism using a novel synthesis equation
Neider Nadid Romero Nuñez1, Anderson Romero Florez2, Rodrigo S. Vieira1 and Daniel Martins1
1
Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Centro Tecnológico, Campus Universitário Reitor João David Ferreira Lima, Trindade, CEP:
88.040-900, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil, 2 Faculty of Engineering, University of Antioquia (UDEA), calle 67#53-180, El Carmen de Viboral, Colombia

Keywords: Bilateration matrices; Optimal synthesis; Rack-and-pinion; Steering mechanisms

Correspondence to: (Neider Nadid Romero Nuñez) / neider.romero@posgrad.ufsc.br

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Abstract This article presents a method for the dimensional synthesis of the rack-and-pinion steering mechanism by
optimization technique based on a novel synthesis equation. The proposed kinematic model allows obtaining a polynomial
synthesis equation to formulate the objective function as a sum of squares. Then, the computation of the objective function
derivatives is straightforward compared to existing formulations. Finally, the application of the proposed method is shown
through a numerical example implemented in Matlab®.
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determine local minima. P.A Simionescu et al. [8] propose a new

1. Introduction objective function based on approximating the commonly used
The steering mechanism is one of the main parts of the steer- synthesis error. After the optimization, an analysis is carried out
ing system as it allows the synchronization and control of the to verify that the design requirements are fulfilled. Initial esti-
directional wheels; therefore, a proper design is essential. The mates on the rack-and-pinion steering mechanism design are
optimal design of the steering gear is a complex task due to the presented in [9], considering only three design parameters since
intrinsic complexity of the gear and the conditions that must be an additional parameter represents function cognates of the
satisfied [1]. Generally, a steering mechanism is designed in Watt II linkage [10]. Evolutionary methods for optimizing rack-
such a way that the extension of the steering wheel axles and and-pinion steering mechanisms are presented in [9–11]. Xin-
the extension of the rear axle intersect at the same point, which qian Zhang et al. [14] present the optimization and analysis of a
is known as Ackermann's condition [2]. This article focuses on rack and pinion steering mechanism with a McPherson suspen-
the study of the rack-and-pinion steering mechanism. sion and consider the influence of kingpin parameters. The
The rack-and-pinion steering mechanism was invented by Ackermann equation is modified through the Ackerman ratio
Gustave Dumont in 1922 [3] and has been widely studied since and the kingpin parameters. The parameters of the characteris-
it is very compact and requires a reduced space in the front of tic steering equation are optimized by means of a genetic algo-
the vehicle; therefore, it is the most common in small cars [2-3]. rithm.
Another, advantages of rank-and-pinion steering mechanism In the design of a steering mechanism, it is essential to know
are: simple construction, economical and uncomplicated to the sensitivity of the mechanism to changes in dimensions due
manufacture, easy to operate due to good degree of efficiency, to manufacturing, assembly, and wear errors in the kinematic
tie rods can be joined directly to the steering rack, and easy to pairs; this analysis is carried out after the optimization but can
limit steering rack travel and therefore the steering angle [5]. also be integrated into the optimization process [12–14].
In general, the dimensional synthesis of parallel mechanisms This paper presents a procedure for the dimensional synthe-
is faced through optimization techniques since the equations sis of a rack-and-pinion steering mechanism. A fourth-degree
that describe the kinematics of this type of mechanism are often polynomial synthesis equation based on bilateration matrices is
highly non-linear, as is the case of the rack and pinion steering derived, and an exact gradient-based optimization method is en-
linkage [6]. It is because of that, in the literature optimization pro- abled. This method is inspired by Yao and Angeles [18], and the
cedures for reducing the deviation between the ideal and actual authors derive a second-degree polynomial synthesis equation
behavior of the mechanism in question are proposed. E.C. of a four-bar steering mechanism from the Freudenstein equa-
Zarak and M.A. Townsend [7] define the synthesis error as the tion [19]. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there are no
difference between the steering centers formulating the objec- similar works in the literature for the rack and pinion steering
tive function as the weighted sum of the absolute value of the mechanism. The main advantage of the proposed synthesis
synthesis errors. The authors used a direct search method to

1
equation is that from this equation, it is possible to define an ob-
jective function whose gradient and Hessian matrix can be cal-
culated directly. It also opens the possibility of determining all
the critical points of the objective function and thus obtaining the
global optimum. Another advantage is that it is not necessary to
solve the kinematic position problem in the optimization process
because the minimization of the objective function guarantees
the assembly of the mechanism.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 shows
the kinematic position analysis of the RRRP planar mechanism
using a new bilateration matrix. Section 3 derives a polynomial
synthesis equation using the bilateration matrix proposed in the
previous section. Section 4 shows the formulation of the optimi-
zation problem and the computation of the gradient and the Hes- Fig. 1. Planar RRRP mechanism.
sian. Section 5 presents a numerical example of the proposed
procedure’s effectiveness. Finally, in Section 6 and Section 7,
the discussion and conclusions of the present work are pre-
sented.

2. Bilateration matrix for a RRRP planar

mechanism

The first step in the optimization process of a mechanism

is to solve the kinematics of position. This problem is tradi-
tionally solved using the following types of coordinates: refer-
ence point coordinates, natural coordinates, and relative co-
ordinates. Once the type of coordinates is chosen, a set of
constraint equations that define the position kinematics are
established [6]. In this work, we will use a different approach
Fig. 2. Interception between circle and line.
based on distances, allowing us to determine a polynomial
synthesis equation. To model the kinematics of the rack-and-
( )
2
sij = pij  uik + s je s jk = s je + sek
pinion mechanism, the position kinematics of an RRRP planar
mechanism is sufficient. The analysis of this mechanism us-
( )
2
s je = sij − pij  uik sek = s jk − s je
ing distances and bilateration matrices is shown below.
The forward position problem of the planar RRRP mecha-
where sie = ( pij  uik ) , then we can write the square distance
2

nism illustrated in Fig. 1 is equivalent to the circle-line inter-

sek as function of square distances s jk , sij , and the vectors
ception problem described in Fig. 2. Before we deduce the
uik , pij .
bilateration matrix let us consider the following notation: Pi
( )
2
and pi will denote a point and its respective position vector, sek = s jk − sij + pij  uik (1)
2
pij is the vector going from Pi to Pj , sij = dij2 = pij is the Therefore, the vector pik can be expressed as follows:
squared distance between Pi and Pj , uij is the unit vector
( ) ( )
2

in direction Pi to Pj . For more detail about bilateration, the p ik = p ij  u ik u ik  s jk − sij + p ij  u ik u ik

authors encourage the lector to read [17, 18]. (2)
 2 

Rojas [20] presents a bilateration matrix for the intersection ( ) (

=  p ij  u ik I  s jk − sij + pij  u ik I  u ik
 
)
between a line and a circle, but this matrix has a singularity
where I is the 2  2 identity matrix. Writing the Eq. (2) in
when the line passes through the circle’s center. The matrix
compact form yields:
that will be deduce next solves the singularity problem de-
scribed above. pik = Yijk uik (3)
The idea is to determine the distances die and d ek , and Where Yijk is the bilateration matrix
computes the vector pik as a function of sij , s jk , pij , and
uik . The distance die is the pij projection on the line defined
by Pi and uik , then die = pij  uik . Now it is applied Pythago-
ras’ theorem in the triangles PP i j Pk and Pe Pj Pk as follow
2
  deduce a closure condition involving the points P1 , P2 , P3 ,
Yijk = ( ij ik )
p  u  s jk − sij + ( pij  uik )
2
P4 , P5 , and P6 located as shown in Fig. 4.

 0
(4)
0 

( ij ik ) jk ij ( ij ik ) 
2
p  u  s − s + p  u

The  sings in Eq. (4) correspond to the two possible con-

figurations represented by points Pk and Pk' , as shown in the
Fig. 2. Applying the scaling property [20] to the Eq. (3) yields
sik = det ( Yijk ) ; this property is essential to deriving the syn-
thesis equation in the following section.
3. Synthesis equation of the rack-and-pin-
ion steering mechanism
Eq. (3) will be used in this section to derive a polynomial syn-
thesis equation. Like the work of Yao and Angeles [18], the non-
polynomial terms are transformed by a change of variables.
Some of the algebraic manipulations of the equations are done
in Maxima computer algebra software [22] since the symbolic
calculations are too extensive to be done by hand.
The Fig. 3 shows the rack and pinion steering mechanism in
an arbitrary configuration. Angles  i and  o are the steering
angles of the inner and outer wheels, respectively;  is the an-
gle between the knuckle arm and the perpendicular to the axis
of the wheel; a , b , and c are the lengths of the bars, and d
is the vertical position of the rack. Steering angles  i ,  o and
the angles 1 , 2 ,  hold the following relationship:
Fig. 4. Position analysis of the rack-and-pinion steering mechanism.
The points P2 and P6 are intentionally located on
the line defined by the rack in order to simplify the cal-
culations, and the rest of points are positioned on the
kinematic pairs.
Vector p 26 can written as sum of vectors p 23 , p34 ,
and p 46 :
p26 = p23 + p34 + p46 (8)
then, using bilateration matrices the Eq. (8) is rewritten as:
p 26 = Y213u 23 + Y334u 34 − Y654u 64
= Y213u 23 + Y334u 23 + Y654u 23 (9)
= ( Y213 + Y334 + Y654 ) u 23
Note that the bilateration matrix Y334 in Eq. (9) repeats twice
the index 3 because two revolute joints collapse in the point
P3 (i.e., link P3 P4 is a degenerate RRRP chain). Applying the
scaling property [17] to the Eq. (9) yields

 s26 = det ( Y213 + Y334 + Y654 ) (10)

1 = − (  − i ) (5)
2 The Eq. (10) can be used as synthesis equation in the opti-
 mization, but the computation of the derivatives with respect to
2 = + (  + o ) (6) the design variables is not so straightforward. If accuracy is not
2 a problem, a numerical method can be used to calculate the de-
rivatives as in [16]. Another disadvantage of directly using Eq.
(10) is that it contains radicals; therefore, it would be necessary
to add constraints in the optimization to avoid complex values.
In order to obtain a polynomial equation, we make the follow-
ing change of variables:
x = a sin  (11)
y = a cos  (12)
Where, x and y represent the Cartesian coordinates of
point P1 of steering mechanism in the neutral position. We now
expand Eq. (10) and then rearrange and square it as many
times as necessary until we eliminate the radicals and obtain a
polynomial equation of the form f ( i ,  o , z ) = 0 . The complete
Fig. 3. Rack-and-pinion steering mechanism. derivation of the synthesis equation is omitted in this work be-
cause the equations are too large. After some simplification we
obtain a polynomial synthesis equation Eq. (13).
The angles 1 and 2 are a function of the steering angles
which are previously known and respond to the Ackermann con-
dition that is written mathematically as:
w
cot  o − cot  i = (7)
l
Where l is the wheelbase and w is the track. Now, we will

3
 f ( i ,  o , z ) = r44 y 3 + r43dy 3 + r42cy 3 + r41 xy 2 + r40 dxy 2 r33 = (so − 3si )(3so − si )
+ r39cxy + r38 y + r37 dy + r36cy + r35d y + r34cdy
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 r34 = −8(co + ci − 2)(so − si )
+ r33c y + r32 x y + r31dx y + r30cx y + r29 xy + r28dxy
2 2 2 2 2
r35 = 4(co − ci )2
+ r27 cxy + r26 d xy + r25cdxy + r24c xy + r23 y + r22 dy
2 2
r36 = −2(so − 3si )(3so − si )w
(13)
+ r21cy + r20cdy + r19c y + r18c dy + r17c y + r16 x
2 2 3 3
r37 = 8(co + ci − 2)(so − si )w
+ r15 dx + r14cx + r13 x + r12 dx + r11cx + r10d x
3 3 2 2 2 2 2
r38 = (so − 3si )(3so − si )w2
+ r9cdx + r8c x + r7 x + r6 dx + r5cx + r4cdx
2 2 2
r39 = 4(2ci so2 − so2 − 4co si so − 4ci si so + 2si so + 2co si2 − si2 )
+ r3c x + r2c dx + r1c x
2 2 3
r40 = −8(2 si so2 − 2 si2 so + 3ci co so − 2co so + ci2 so − 2ci so − co2 si
T −3ci co si + 2co si + 2ci si )
Where z =  x y c d  is the design variables vector.
The coefficients r1 to r44 are: r41 = −4(2c s − s − 4co si so − 4ci si so + 2si so + 2co si2 − si2 )w
2
i o
2
o

r42 = −8si so (so − si )

r1 = 2(co + ci − 2) r43 = −8(so − si )(ci so − so − co si + si )
r2 = 4(so − si ) r44 = 8si so (so − si )w
r3 = 6(−co + ci + 2)w
r4 = 8(−so + si )w Where si = sin i , so = sin  o , ci = cos i , co = cos  o .
r5 = 6(co + ci − 2)w 2
The procedure shown to derive the synthesis equation
r6 = 4(so − si )w 2 can be extended to other steering mechanisms as:
lever arm steering mechanism, and multi-link steering
r7 = −2(co + ci − 2)w3 mechanism [2]. This problem will be addressed in future
r8 = (3co2 + 10ci co − 8co + 3ci2 − 8ci ) work. Note that the main drawback is the elimination of
r9 = 8(co + ci )(so − si ) the radicals, so it would be necessary to develop a sys-
tematic method to overcome this difficulty.
r10 = 4(so + si )2
r11 = −2(3co2 + 10ci co − 8co + 3ci2 − 8ci )w 4. Optimization
r12 = −8(co + ci )(so − si )w
The synthesis Eq. (13) could be used to find the design vari-
r13 = (3co2 + 10ci co − 8co + 3ci2 − 8ci )w2 ables for only four precision points different from the neutral con-
r14 = 4(co + ci )(2ci co − co − ci ) figuration. In the case where it is desired to design the mecha-
r15 = 8(co + ci )(ci so − co si ) nism for more than four precision points, it is necessary to use
r16 = −4(co + ci )(2ci co − co − ci )w optimization to find an approximate solution. The optimization
method used in this work is based on the analytical computing
r17 = 2(so − si )
of the gradient of the objective function. For this reason, the ob-
r18 = −4(co + ci − 2) jective function has been defined in quadratic form since it sat-
r19 = −6(so − si )w isfies the requirement of being differentiable. Various authors
r20 = 8(co + ci − 2)w using a similar function can be found in the literature [4, 20, 21].
r21 = 6(so − si )w2 The optimization problem is formulated as,

r22 = −4(co + ci − 2)w2

r23 = −2(so − si )w3 1 n 2
r24 = 2(3co so + 5ci so − 4so − 5co si − 3ci si + 4si )
minimize g (z ) =
z
 fi
2 i=1 (14)
r25 = 8(s − 2si so + s − c − 2ci co + 2co − c + 2ci )
2 2 2 2 subject to zzz
o i o i

r26 = −8(co − ci )(so + si )

where z and z are lower and upper bounds respectively.
r27 = −4(3co so + 5ci so − 4so − 5co si − 3ci si + 4si )w
Since, the synthesis equation derived above is polynomial,
r28 = −8(so2 − 2si so + si2 − co2 − 2ci co + 2co − ci2 + 2ci )w the gradient and Hessian can be easily computed.
r29 = 2(3co so + 5ci so − 4so − 5co si − 3ci si + 4si )w2
T
r30 = 8(2ci co so − co so + ci2 so − ci so − co2 si − 2cico si + co si + ci si )  g g g g 
g =   (16)
r31 = 8(ci so2 − 3co si so − 3ci si so + co si2 − 2cico2 + co2 − 2ci2co  x y c d 

+2ci co + ci2 ) where

r32 = −8(2ci co so − co so + c s − ci so − c s − 2cico si + co si + ci si )w
2
i o
2
o i

4
 g n
f g n
f the limits of the variables x , y , c , and d are estab-
=  fi i =  fi i
x i=1 x y i=1 y lished. Then, by means of a previous analysis of the
g n
f g n
f steering system, an initial mechanism is established from
=  fi i =  fi i which the initial vector of design variables is obtained.
c i=1 c d i=1 d
Then the objective function, the gradient, and the Hessian,
and the first-order partial derivatives of Eq. (26) are:
inputs for the optimizer, are codified. In the algorithmic
f i computing of gradient and Hessian the first and second
= r41i y 2 + r40i dy 2 + r39i cy 2 + 2r32i xy + 2r31i dxy + 2r30i cxy derivatives are calculated for each prescribed steering
x
angle, and the results are accumulated to obtain the total
+ r29i y + r28i dy + r27i cy + r26i d 2 y + r25i cdy + r24i c 2 y + 3r16i x 2
value of the derivatives. Once the optimal values of the
+3r15i dx 2 + 3r14i cx 2 + 2r9i cdx + 2r8i c 2 x + 2r13i x + 2r12i dx (17) variables x , y , c , and d are obtained, the geometric
+2r11i cx + 2r10i d 2 x + r7i + r6i d + r5i c + r4i cd + r3i c 2 parameters a and  are determined by equations
+ r2i c 2 d + r1i c 3 a= x2 + y 2 and  = arctan ( x / y ) , respectively. Now
f i we can simulate the mechanism to verify that the solution
= 3r43i dy 2 + 3r42i cy 2 + 3r44i y 2 + 2r40i dxy + 2r39i cxy
y is acceptable otherwise, the initial mechanism is changed,
+2r41i xy + 2r35i d 2 y + 2r34i cdy + 2r37i dy + 2r33i c 2 y + 2r36i cy and the procedure is repeated. Another possibility to de-
+2r38i y + r31i dx 2 + r30i cx 2 + r32i x 2 + r26i d 2 x + r25i cdx + r28i dx (18) termine an initial mechanism is by using an evolutionary
algorithm and refining the solution with the proposed
+ r c x + r cx + r x + r c d + r cd + r d + r c
i 2 i i i 2 i i i 3
24 27 29 18 20 22 17
method.
r19i c 2 + r21i c + r23i Note that we might be tempted to solve equation
f i g = 0 to find all local minima, but it is evident that this
= r42i y 3 + r39i xy 2 + r34i dy 2 + 2r33i cy 2 + r36i y 2 + r30i x 2 y
c equation is ill-conditioned [25]; therefore, we could not
+ r25i dxy + 2r24i cxy + r27i xy + 2r18i cdy + r20i dy + 3r17i c 2 y (19) use a traditional numerical approach to solve it. The au-
+2r19i cy + r21i y + r14i x 3 + r9i dx 2 + 2r8i cx 2 + 2r11i x 2 thors believe that it is possible to determine all critical
points by homotopic continuation [26] and thus determine
+2r2i cdx + r4i dx + 3r1i c 2 x + 2r3i cx + r5i x
the global optimum. To achieve this, additional effort is
f i needed in future research.
= r43i y 3 + r40i xy 2 + 2r35i dy 2 + r34i cy 2 + r37i y 2 + r31i x 2 y
d
+ r26i dxy + r25i cxy + r28i xy + r18i c 2 y + r20i cy + r22i y + r15i x 3 (20) 5. Numerical example
+2r dx + r cx + r x + r c x + r cx + r x
i 2 i 2 i 2 i 2 i i
10 9 12 2 4 6
This section shows an illustrative example of the optimization
process of the rack-and- pinion steering mechanism using the
The forward computing of the Hessian Eq. (15) im- synthesis equation developed in Section 3. The optimization
proves the accuracy of the optimization process. Since procedure is as follows: once the range of the steering angles is
the second derivatives exist and the function is continu- defined, the values of ri with i = 1, 2, , 44 are previously cal-
ous, the Hessian matrix is symmetric; therefore, it is only culated for each of the configurations specified, then the objec-
necessary to calculate ten second-order derivatives of Eq. tive function is formulated, and the limits and the initial values of
(13). The second order derivatives of Eq. (26) can be the design variables are defined. Once the optimization problem
computed straightforward from the derivates of Eq. (17) is solved, a kinematic analysis is performed to identify possible
to Eq. (20) respect to the design variables. singularities and to ensure that the steering error is acceptable.
If the solution is unsatisfactory, the initial design variables are
 2 g 2 g 2 g 2 g  changed, and the procedure is repeated until a satisfactory so-
 2 
 x xy xc xd  lution is obtained.
 2 g 2 g 2 g 2 g  Let vary  i from −27 to 40 ,  o varying correspondingly
  from −40 to 27 , with n = 68 , and all 68 prescribed angles
 yx y 2 yc yd 
H= 2 (15) uniformly spaced along the  i axis. Moreover, we set
 g 2 g 2 g 2 g 
  w = 1.5m , and set l = 2m as in [27]. Interior-Point Algorithm
 cx cy c 2 cd 
 2  with analytic Hessian [28] of the Matlab toolbox was used to
 g 2 g 2 g 2 g 
solve the optimization problem. Fig. 5(a) illustrates the initial
 d x d y d c d 
2
mechanism, Fig. 5(b) shows the optimal mechanism in the non-
steered configuration, and Fig. 6 shows the convergence of the
To implement the dimensional synthesis method of the objective function in which a value of 2.416  10 −8 was reached
rack-and-pinion mechanism, we proceed as follows. First, in 24 iterations. Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 show receptively the structural
error for the initial and optimal mechanism. Maximum steering

5
error is 14.38 for initial mechanism and 0.04 for the optimal
solution. The structural error is defined as the difference be-
tween the steering angle of the outer wheel and the prescribed
steering angle of the outer wheel, which in this case, corre-
sponds to the angle given by the Ackermann condition [24]. Ta-
ble 1 shows the initial and optimal values of the design variables
as well as the lower and upper bounds considered in the optimi-
zation.

.
. . .
Fig. 6. Evolution of the objective function.
a

Fig. 5. Rack-and-pinion steering optimization: (a) initial mechanism and (b)

optimal mechanism.

Table 1. Material properties of SCP10.

Design Units Lower Upper Initial Optimal

variable bounds bounds design Fig. 7. Structural error of the initial mechanism.
x m -0.1 0.2 0 -0.07695
y m 0.1 0.3 0.2 0.3
c m 0 1.5 0.4 1.1
d m 0.1 0.3 0.2 0.16693

Fig. 8. Structural error of the optimal mechanism.

6

5. Discussion: polynomial synthesis equa-
tion
The bilateration matrix developed in Section 2 is free of sin-
gularities, so it was successfully applied in the derivation of the
synthesis equation allowing the elimination of the kinematic var-
iables defining the position of the mechanism. A polynomial syn-
thesis equation has already been developed for a four-bar
mechanism [18]. However, to the authors’ knowledge, there is
no polynomial synthesis equation for the rack-and-pinion steer-
ing mechanism.
The main advantage of a polynomial synthesis equation is
that it allows straightforward calculation of the gradient vector
and the Hessian matrix, thus improving the accuracy and effi-
ciency of the optimization process, as shown in Section 4 and
Section 5.
Since the gradient corresponds to a system of polynomial
equations, it would be possible to find all the critical points of the
objective function and, therefore, the global optimum. This ap-
proach will be developed in future work since the system of
equations is inherently ill-conditioned. Therefore, some non-tra-
ditional numerical methods would be necessary to overcome
this challenge.
5. Conclusion
This paper presents a procedure for the dimensional synthe-
sis of rack and pinion steering mechanism using an analytical
gradient-based optimization technique. A bilateration matrix is
derived for an RRRP mechanism which allows finding a fourth-
degree polynomial synthesis equation with forty-four terms
whose coefficients depend on the steering angles. Then the ob-
jective function was defined as the sum of squares of the syn-
thesis equation, allowing the direct calculation of the gradient
and the Hessian readily. Finally, a numerical example was pre-
sented where sequential quadratic programming was imple-
mented to solve the optimization problem, and the results found
are comparable with those of the literature. Since the gradient
vanishes at local minima, it is possible to formulate a system of
polynomial equations and determine all the real solutions; this
approach will be studied in future research.
Acknowledgments
This study was financed in part by the Coordenacão de Aper-
feiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) -
Finance Code 001 and CAPES- PRINT/UFSC AUXPE
2835/2018 and CNPq under project PQ 312117/2017-5.
Nomenclature------------------------------------------------------------------
δ : Steering angle
Yijk : Bilateration matrix
sij : Square distance between points i and j.
f : Synthesis equation
z : Design variables vector
g : Objective function
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Author information
Neider Nadid Romero Nuñez is a doc-
toral student in Mechanical Engineering
from Federal University of Santa Cata-
rina. He received his M.S. from the same
university in 2014. His research direc-
tions include dimensional synthesis of
mechanisms, kinematics and dynamics
analysis of mechanisms and robots, and
numerical method in optimization.
Anderson Romero Flórez is a student in
Aerospace Engineering from University of
Antioquia. His research directions include
control theory, stability of aircraft, aerody-
namic, structural optimization, and numer-
ical method in optimization.
Rodrigo S. Vieira Master's degree in
Production Engineering from the Federal
University of Santa Catarina (1999) and
PhD in Production Engineering from the
Federal University of Santa Catarina and
École Polytechnique de Montréal in Ergo-
nomics (2006). He is currently an Associ-
ate Professor at the Federal University of Santa Catarina. He
has experience in the field of Mechanical Engineering, with em-
phasis on Stress Analysis and Dynamics, acting mainly on the
following themes: Machine Design, Dynamics and Kinematics
of Vehicles. He is currently the Executive Director of the Em-
brapii Unit – Move.
 Daniel Martins is Full Professor at the
Federal University of Santa Catarina. He
has a degree in Mechanical Engineering
from the Federal University of Santa Ca-
tarina (1992), Master (1993) and PhD
(2002) in Mechanical from the same uni-
versity with Post Doctorate at King's Col-
lege of London (2011-2012). Has experience in the field of Me-
chanical Engineering and Automation, with emphasis on Design
of Mechanisms and Robotics, working mainly on the following
topics: kinematics, statics, and dynamics of mechanical systems
with emphasis on mechanical design. He also has experience
in Intellectual Property (Law), working mainly on the following
topics: mechanical, electrical and automation.