Performance Enhancement of a Six-Bar Linkage-Based Clamping Device Using a Curved Slide Joint

초록

A clamp is a fastening tool that is widely used in various industries. Pneumatic clamps are used in large factories to hold steel plates; however, additional equipment, such as complicated wiring and air tanks, do not allow sufficient workspace. Thus, there has been a demand for a clamping device actuated by an electric motor to simplify the system. Because an electric clamp uses a motor instead of a linear actuator, its mechanical linkage structure should be designed appropriately to improve the clamping performance and efficiency. A six-bar toggle clamp with a linear slide joint has a section in which the torque amplification ratio is maintained even when the output angle increases. However, this section can be extended by curving the slide joint. In this study, a six-bar linkage-based clamping device with a curved slide joint is proposed. A spline curve was applied at the linkage. The clamping performance of the device surpassed that of the existing six-bar linkage device, and the device exhibited a wider range of output angle while maintaining a minimum torque amplification ratio. A spline curve was constructed using six control points and optimized by comparing the performance indicators. The input and output angle relationship was calculated in addition to the torque amplification ratio according to the output angle. A test bench was constructed, and experiments were conducted to validate the simulation results.

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