Workspace analysis of reconfigurable parallel machine tool based on setting-angle of spherical joint

This paper provides a study of workspace analysis of reconfigurable parallel machine tool (PMT). A reconfigurable PMT is established in either telescoped drive form or railway linear drive form by the same modules but different assembly modes. In the architecture of the PMT, an angle-variable module is designed to change the setting-angle in X and Z orientation for working more efficiently. In the workspace analysis of the PMTs of two drive models, inverse kinematics solution is given, and the effect of setting-angle of spherical joint on PMT has been investigated and the spherical joint setting-angle selection method has been proposed. A comparison result is supplied to show the difference of workspace between these two kinds of PMTs.