Synthesis of four-bar straight-line linkage based on solution regions and its software development

Synthesis of four-bar approximate straight-line linkage can produce an infinite number of solutions for given two frame points and the point which is on the expecting straight line and the direction. A new synthesizing method of four-bar linkage, based on solution region, is presented in this paper. With the method of combined programming by mixing compilation of VC++ and MATLAB, an infinite number of mechanism solutions can be expressed on a finite coordinates plane. The mechanism property graphs have been computed to enable the designers to find out the mechanism types and involved mechanism property more intuitively, and avoid aimlessness in choosing mechanisms based on analysis of solution regions, thus, the design period will be shortened.