Synthesis of profile actuated lathe tool slide mechanism using information theory

The synthesis of a mechanism is usually carried out either by the precision point approach or by using the optimisation technique. In this paper the concept of entropy is utilised to formulate the objective function. Information theory utilises the concept of entropy. The structural errors that exist in the output of function generating linkages can be taken as continuous random variables, and an entropy function can be formulated in terms of design parameters. The maximum entropy can be determined. Minimization of the maximum entropy leads to determination of optimum design parameters that ensure accurate performance. The application of this approach is illustrated by a numerical example. A digital simulation for the approach has also been presented.