Design of a class of reconfigurable hybrid mechanisms for large complex curved surface machining based on topological graph theory

A design method for hybrid mechanism configuration synthesis based on topological graph theory is proposed to address the challenge of machining large and complex curved surfaces in the aerospace domain. The method leads to the generation of a new class of reconfigurable large extension hybrid mechanisms. Firstly, the spatial mechanism topological graph (SMTG) is obtained by evolving the structure of chemical molecules, which is used to express the spatial mechanism topological relationships. Then, combining graph theory methods with the SMTG, the topological relationships between motion modules of the hybrid mechanism are expressed, and the mechanisms of each motion module are designed. Finally, mechanisms of different functional modules are topologically connected and combined using the proposed topological connection relationship for the motion modules of hybrid mechanisms, thus resulting in a class of reconfigurable hybrid mechanisms (RHMs) with large extensibility. The RHMs exhibit strong structural stability, a large working space, and a small volume of occupation. It can be installed on the ends of industrial robots or in large guideways in the future to achieve high-precision machining of large complex curved structures.