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Tolerance analysis of parallel mechanism with link dimension deviation and

joint clearance

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13th World Congress in Mechanism and Machine Science, Guanajuato, México, 19-25 June, 2011
Tolerance Analysis of Parallel Mechanism with Link Dimension Deviation and
Joint Clearance
J.-X. Yang* J.-Y. Wang†
Beijing University of Technology Tsinghua University
Beijing, China Beijing, China
Abstract—Tolerance analysis of a planar 5R parallel
mechanism with link dimension deviation and joint
clearance are performed under the hypothesis of small
displacements and clearance link. The influences of
different link dimension deviations are derived by the
linearization of kinematic equations, and the influences
of clearance link at active/passive joints are transformed
to a mechanism reachability problem and derived
individually. The geometric behaviors of link dimension
deviations and joint clearances are studied and
compared by a numerical example. All these above
provide the basis of the accuracy design theory for new
parallel mechanisms.
Keywords: parallel mechanism, tolerance analysis, link dimension
deviation, joint clearance
I. Introduction
Parallel mechanisms are now widely used in real-life
applications such as precise positioning devices, motion
simulator, ultra-fast pick-and-place robot, machine tools
and haptic devices [1]. The demand for high precision
tasks for parallel mechanism is continuously growing and
the design methodology granting the prescribed accuracy
is becoming a critical issue.
The performance quality of an articulated mechanism
is usually referred to accuracy and repeatability. The
accuracy is defined as a measure of the robot capability
to attain commanded position or orientation with respect
to the fixed absolute reference coordinate frame. The
repeatability is defined as the capability of the robot to
return the end effector to a previously reached and
memorized pose. The performance deviation is usually
caused by manufacturing and assembly errors, which is
accumulated by two kind of small displacements. First
the relative deviation between different positioning
features that belong to a part which is always called link
dimension deviation, then the displacement due to the
clearance between the two surfaces of the two parts
in contact. Link dimension deviation leads to invariable
position and orientation deviation, its components are
random variables and can be well calibrated and they
will remain the same during operation and cause no
*
yangjx@bjut.edu.cn
†
jywang@tsinghua.edu.cn
‡
anwer@lurpa.ens-cachan.fr
‡
anselm@lurpa.ens-cachan.fr
1
A11_306
N. Anwer‡ B. Anselmetti‡
ENS de Cachan ENS de Cachan
Cachan, France Cachan, France
uncertainty. Joint clearance may produce uncertain pose
errors of the end effector, the unconstrained motions of
the end effector are bounded by real dimensions which
are random variables. The effects of joint clearance are
highly non-repeatable and can not be rectified with any
kind of calibration. However, joint clearance is necessary
for the assembility and mobility of over-constrained
parallel mechanisms.
Vukobratović et al. [2] investigated the influences of
the robot kinematic parameter deviations on the gripper
pose errors and determined the specific manufacturing
tolerances which cause the maximal effector deviations
to ensure a desired accuracy portrait. Chase et al. [3]
presented the direct linearization method for tolerance
analysis of 2D and 3D mechanical assemblies, using a
vector-loop-based assembly tolerance models to describe
the relationships between the resultant assembly
dimension and manufactured component dimension. Ting
et al. [4] presented an application of invariant link
rotatability laws to identify the worst position and
orientation errors due to joint clearance of planar linkage
containing revolute joints. Venazi et al. [5] applied the
principle of virtual work to study the kinematic
influences of clearance-affected pairs on the position and
orientations of the links of spatial mechanisms. Based on
screw theory, Frisoli et al. [6] proposed a method to
compute the effect of clearances on the motion accuracy
and the best/worst performance of a spatial manipulator
under a generic pose error function.
Because of the inheritance of the variations in
manufacturing and assembly processes, the dimension
deviations and the performance variations of the
mechanisms are unavoidable. How the link dimension
deviation and joint clearance in parallel mechanisms
contribute to the output deviations and what analysis
technique could be used to evaluate the performance are
important issues. At the conceptual design stage of a
parallel mechanism, we should take account of both
factors and assess its effects on the accuracy and
assembility of parallel mechanism.
The paper will treat the problem of tolerance analysis
of a planar 5R parallel mechanism, taking into account
the effects of all link dimension deviation and joint
clearance. Because the magnitude of link dimension
deviation and joint clearance is limited and its value is
reasonably of a lower order of magnitude than the
13th World Congress in Mechanism and Machine Science, Guanajuato, México, 19-25 June, 2011 A11_306

nominal mechanism dimensions. Under the hypothesis of There are four solutions for the inverse kinematic
small displacements, two important assumptions can be problem of the 5R parallel mechanism. For the
drawn: (1) the small displacements at the end effector, configuration shown in Fig.4, if the position of output
due to link dimension deviations on different parts and point C is known, the inputs to reach the position can be
joint clearances in different joints, are independent of obtained as
each other; (2) the contributions of link dimension ⎛ − b + b 2 − 4a c ⎞
deviations and joint clearances, calculated by given θ 1 = 2 tan −1 ⎜ 1 1 1 1 ⎟ (6)
⎜ 2a1 ⎟
tolerances and according to the kinematic equations, are ⎝ ⎠
composed as a linear summation to determine the ⎛ − b − b − 4a c ⎞
2
resulting motion of the end effector. θ 4 = 2 tan −1 ⎜ 2 2 2 2 ⎟ (7)
⎜ 2a 2 ⎟
⎝ ⎠
II. Description of Mechanism where
As shown in Fig.1, the planar 5R parallel mechanism a1 = x 2 + y 2 + l12 − l22 + 2xl1
is such a typical mechanism with the minimal degrees of b1 = −4 yl1
freedom in the field, which can be used for positioning a
c1 = x 2 + y 2 + l12 − l22 − 2xl1
point freely on a region of a plane that is known as the
workspace. It consists of five bars that are connected end a 2 = ( x − r5 ) 2 + y 2 + l 42 − l32 + 2( x − l5 )l 4
to end by five revolute joints, two of which that are b2 = −4 yl 4
connected to the base are actuated. Such a mechanism c 2 = ( x − l 5 ) 2 + y 2 + l 42 − l32 − 2( x − l5 )l 4
has attracted many researchers, who have investigated its
position analysis, workspace, singularity, assembly
III. Tolerance Analysis of Link Dimension Deviation
modes, performance atlases and kinematic design [7].
Eq. (4) and (5) can be linearized using a first order
C (x, y) Taylor’s series expansion, which yields
l2 l3 [ A ][ Δc] = [B][Δl] + [C][ Δθ] (8)
where
B D
[ Δc] = [ Δx Δy ]
T

[Δl ] = [ Δl1 Δl5 ]

T
Δl2 Δl3 Δl4
l1 y
l4
[ Δθ] = [ Δθ1 Δθ 4 ]
T

θ1
l5 θ4 ⎡ x − l1 cos θ1 y − l1 sin θ1 ⎤
[ A] = ⎢ x − l y − l4 sin θ 4 ⎥⎦
4 cos θ 4 − l5
A x E ⎣
Fig. 1. The planar 5R parallel mechanism ⎡ x cos θ1 + y sin θ1 − l1 l2 0 0 0 ⎤
[B] = ⎢ 0 0 l3 x cos θ 4 + y sin θ 4 − l4 − l5 cos θ 4 x − l4 cos θ 4 − l5 ⎥⎦
⎣
A kinematic model of the planar 5R parallel
mechanism ABCDE is developed as shown in Fig. 1. A ⎡ yl cos θ1 − xl1 sin θ1 0 ⎤
[C] = ⎢ 1 ⎥
fixed global reference system A-xy is located at point A ⎣ 0 ⎦
with the y-axis normal to AE and the x-axis directed If the input angular displacement is assumed to be
along AE. The dimension of each link is denoted as li generated exactly, (i.e. Δθ1=Δθ4=0), the position errors of
(i=1~5). The position of the output point C on link BC in output point C can be calculated approximately using
the reference system A-xy can be described by the [ Δc] = [ A ] [B][Δl] = [S][Δl]
−1
(9)
position vector c0, and there is
where [S] = [ A ]−1 [B] ∈ R 2×5 is the sensitivity matrix,
c0 = ( x y )T (1)
describing how deviations in the link dimensions affect
In the reference frame A-xy, the position vectors of the position errors.
point B and D can be written as The worst-case position errors can be found using the
b 0 = (l1 cos θ1 l1 sin θ1 ) T (2) following equations
d 0 = (l4 cos θ 4 + l5 l4 sin θ 4 ) T
(3) ⎧ 5

where θ1 and θ4 are two actuated joint variables measured ⎪Δx = ∑ S1i ⋅ t i (10)
⎪ i =1
counterclockwise from the positive x-axis. The inverse ⎨ 5
⎪ Δy =
kinematic problem then can be solved by following ⎪⎩ ∑
i =1
S 2i ⋅ t i
constraint equations
c 0 − b 0 = l2 (4) where ti is the tolerance associated with the link
dimension li.
c 0 − d 0 = l3 (5)
2
13th World Congress in Mechanism and Machine Science, Guanajuato, México, 19-25 June, 2011 A11_306

If the normal distributions are defined for all link

dimension deviations with ±3σ estimation, a Root Sum
Square (RSS) statistical model of position errors can be
obtained as
⎧ 5
⎪Δx = ∑ (S1i ⋅ t i )
2

⎪ i =1 (11)
⎨
⎪ 5

⎪Δy = ∑ (S 2i ⋅ t i )
2

⎩ i =1 A′
In order to verify Eq. (10) and (11) for use in
determining position errors of planar 5R parallel
Fig. 3. Clearance link at active joint
mechanism, it can be compared with vertex analysis
method [8] and Monte Carlo method [9]. The vertex If only taking account of the clearance link at active
analysis method uses all combinations of the extreme joint A, as shown in Fig. 3, the angle between link AE
tolerance of link dimension. The Monte Carlo method and A′B remains θ1 when crank AA ′ rotates around the
uses repeated random sampling on link dimension point A, the position vectors of point C can be written as
deviation to evaluate its effect on position errors.
⎡ r cos α1 + l1 cos θ1 + l2 cos β1 ⎤ (12)
Different random number distributions (normal, uniform, c1 = ⎢ 1 ⎥
trapezoidal, triangular, et al.) can be defined for the ⎣ r1 sin α1 + l1 sin θ1 + l2 sin β1 ⎦
toleranced parameters. where α 1 is the input angle of crank AA′ , β1 is the
output angle of link BC which can be solved by
IV. Tolerance Analysis of Joint Clearance following constraint equation
The joint clearance can be idealized as the difference c1 − d 0 = l3 (13)
of the diameters of the pin and hole a joint. Assuming Substituting Eq. (3) and (13) into Eq. (14) yields
constant contact between the pin and hole of a joint, a ⎛ − e + e 2 − 4d f ⎞
joint clearance may be modeled as a small link (called β1 = 2 tan −1 ⎜ 1 1 1 1 ⎟ (14)
clearance link) with the length ri (i=1~5) equal to one ⎜ 2d 1 ⎟
⎝ ⎠
half of the joint clearance. Thus, a 2-DOF five-bar where
linkage would become an equivalent 7-DOF ten-bar
linkage (Fig. 2). ⎧(l1 cos θ1 + r1 cos α1 − l4 cos θ 4 − l5 ) 2 + ⎫
⎪ ⎪
d1 = ⎨(l1 sin θ1 + r1 sin α1 − l4 sin θ 4 ) 2 + l22 − l32 ⎬
⎪−2(l cos θ + r cos α − l cos θ − l )l ⎪
C′ ⎩ 1 1 1 1 4 4 5 2⎭

e1 = 4(l1 sin θ1 + r1 sin α 1 − l 4 sin θ 4 )l 2

B′
⎧(l1 cos θ1 + r1 cos α1 − l4 cos θ 4 − l5 ) 2 + ⎫
⎪ ⎪
D′ f1 = ⎨(l1 sin θ1 + r1 sin α1 − l4 sin θ 4 ) 2 + l22 − l32 ⎬
⎪+2(l cos θ + r cos α − l cos θ − l )l ⎪
⎩ 1 1 1 1 4 4 5 2⎭

The effects of clearance link at active joint E can be

A′ E′
Fig. 2. Equivalent linkage with clearance links
For a given configuration at the actuated joint
variables θ1 and θ4, each joint clearance adds one DOF to
the mechanism, the possible position errors due to the
joint clearance is then represented by the trajectory of the
output point C on link BC for this redundant DOF in the
model, thus the tolerance analysis of joint clearance can
be transformed to a reachability problem of a single-DOF
mechanism, which can be solved efficiently by nonlinear
optimization approach.
calculated in the same way. At one nominal configuration
c 0 = ( x y) T , the position errors due to clearance link
AA′ can be obtained as
⎛ l cos θ1 + r1 cos α1 + l2 cos β1 − x ⎞ (15)
p1 = ⎜ 1 ⎟
⎝ l1 sin θ1 + r1 sin α1 + l2 sin β1 − y ⎠
If only taking account of the clearance link at passive
joint C, as shown in Fig. 4, for the double-rocker
mechanism BCC ′D , the position vectors of point C ′
can be written as
⎡l cos θ1 + l2 cos β3 + r3 cos α 3 ⎤ (16)
c3 = ⎢ 1 ⎥
⎣ l1 sin θ1 + l2 sin β 2 + r3 sin α 3 ⎦

3
13th World Congress in Mechanism and Machine Science, Guanajuato, México, 19-25 June, 2011 A11_306

C′

Fig. 4. Clearance link at passive joint

where α 3 is the input angle of link CC ′ , β 3 is the output

angle of link BC which can be solved by following
constraint equation Fig. 5. History of actuated joint variables
c3 − d 0 = l3 (17) The deviation sensitivities of different links in x and y
Substituting Eq. (3) and (16) into Eq. (17) yields direction are plotted as functions of parameter φ in Fig. 6,
⎛ − e + e 2 − 4d f ⎞ data corresponding to Fig. 6 are listed in Table 1.
β 3 = 2 tan −1 ⎜ 3 3 3 3 ⎟ (18)
⎜ 2d 3 ⎟
⎝ ⎠
where
⎧(l1 cos θ1 + r3 cos α 3 − l4 cos θ 4 − l5 ) 2 + ⎫
⎪ ⎪
d 3 = ⎨(l1 sin θ1 + r3 sin α 3 − l4 sin θ 4 ) 2 + l22 − l32 ⎬
⎪ −2(l cos θ + r cos α − l cos θ − l )l ⎪
⎩ 1 1 3 3 4 4 5 2⎭

e3 = 4(l1 sin θ1 + r3 sin α 3 − l 4 sin θ 4 )l 2

⎧(l1 cos θ1 + r3 cos α 3 − l4 cos θ 4 − l5 ) 2 + ⎫
⎪ ⎪
f 3 = ⎨(l1 sin θ1 + r3 sin α 3 − l4 sin θ 4 ) 2 + l22 − l32 ⎬
⎪+2(l cos θ + r cos α − l cos θ − l )l ⎪
⎩ 1 1 3 3 4 4 5 2⎭

The effects of clearance links at passive joint B and D

can be calculated in the same way. At one nominal
configuration c 0 = ( x y ) T , the position errors due to
clearance link CC ′ can be obtained as
⎛ l cos θ1 + l2 cos β 3 − x ⎞ (19)
p3 = ⎜ 1 ⎟
⎝ l1 sin θ1 + l2 sin β 3 − y ⎠
From the discussion above, the unknown output angles
can be found by solving forward kinematic equation of a
single-DOF mechanism. Still another method is to use an
accurate CAD layout and a query of the CAD system to
obtain the corresponding angles.

V. Numerical Example
For example, if l1=l4=1.2(m), l2=l3=1.0(m), l5=1.6(m), Fig. 6. Deviation sensitivities of link dimensions
to generate a circular trajectory, the coordinates of the
point C can be defined by the following parametric i min(S1i) max(S1i) min(S2i) max(S2i)
equations 1 -0.0407 0.5468 -0.3304 0.6288
⎧ x = 0.8 + 0.3 cos φ (20) 2 0.4346 0.7046 0.7097 4.3227
⎨ φ ∈ [0,2π ]
⎩ y = 1.6 + 0.3 sin φ 3 -0.7046 -0.4346 0.7097 4.3227
The history of actuated joint variables θ1 and θ4 4 -0.5468 0.0407 -0.3304 0.6288
corresponding to the parameter φ are given in Fig. 5. 5 0.4249 0.5751 -4.2937 -0.5054
TABLE 1. Values of deviation sensitivities
4
 13th World Congress in Mechanism and Machine Science, Guanajuato, México, 19-25 June, 2011 A11_306

The position errors in x and y direction due to VI. Conclusions

clearance ri (i=1~5) can be denoted by two intervals as
xi=[xi1, xi2] and yi =[yi1, yi2], where xi1(yi1) and xi2(yi2)
denote the lower and upper bound values of xi (yi). For
the circular trajectory defined in Eq. (20), if the length of
each clearance link is 10(μm), both xi and yi are plotted as
functions of parameter φ in Fig. 7, data corresponding to
Fig. 10 are listed in Table 2.
As shown in Fig. 6~7 and Table 1~2, we can have the
following observations:
(1) For the link dimension deviation, the sensitivity of
each link varies with different configurations, it may take
positive or negative values during a period. For the joint
clearance, the lower and upper bound values of xi (yi) are
approximately symmetrical, which suggest that the
position deviations due to each joint clearance are
identical in positive and negative directions.
(2) The sensitivities of link dimension l2 and l3 have the
largest magnitude with respect to position errors in x and
y directions, therefore the same deviation value in link
dimension l2 and l3 will produce the largest contribution
to position errors relative to other links, they are the most
error sensitive link dimensions for position errors.
However, the minimal and maximal position deviations
of all joint clearances are approximately identical, which
suggest that with a common clearance in all joints, each
joint clearance contributes equally to the position
deviations between nominal links.
(3) For the link dimension deviation, the magnitude of
maximal sensitivities in y direction is approximately six
times larger than those in x direction, which means that
the position error in y direction is more sensitive to link
dimension deviations. For the joint clearance, the
magnitude of maximal position deviations in y direction
are approximately six times larger than those in x
direction, which means the position deviation in y
direction is also more sensitive to joint clearances.

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