Investigation of Circular Flexural Hinge Used in Compliant Mechanism Using FEA Tool.

Abstract

To reduce fatigue failure of compliant mechanism, it is necessary to design and analyze the flexure hinge parametrically. A methodology to design a flexural hinges for compliant mechanism is proposed in this paper to improve fatigue life. Results obtained by finite element analysis shows that used design equations are reliable and easier to be used in the design of such proportion flexural hinges. The proposed analytical model gives a new viewpoint on the design of circular flexure hinge based compliant mechanisms. Circular flexural joint was manufactured by using Al 6061 T6 material and experimental setup is developed to test this flexural hinge. Results obtained by FEA were found to be in good correlation with experimental results. The variation in the results can be attributed to variation in properties of material, actual dimensions of setup etc.