Design of a Bistable Compliant Locking Mechanism for New Generation Mirror Actuators

A New Generation Spherical Actuator is designed for rear view mirrors in modern automobiles. The present paper portrays the design of a bistable compliant locking mechanism for this New Generation Mirror Actuator. A Functionally binary pinned-pinned segment is also designed for bistability. Discussion on related topics like bistable mechanisms, compliant mechanisms and rigid body mechanisms becomes the foundation for this research. A testing rig is constructed here to test the design. The design met the required attributes to be compliant and bistable, and it also emphasized on decreasing the number of parts in the whole assembly of the spherical actuator to minimize the total production cost.