An approach to stiffness analysis methodology for haptic devices

In this work a new methodology is proposed to model the static stiffness of a haptic device. This methodology can be used for other parallel, serial and hybrid manipulators. The stiffness model considers the stiffness of; actuation system; flexible links and passive joints. For the modeling of the passive joints a Hertzian contact model is introduced for both spherical and universal joints and a simply supported beam model for universal joints. For validation of the stiffness model a modified JP Merlet kinematic structure has been used as a test case. A parametric Ansys FEM model was developed for this test case and used to validate the resulting stiffness model. The findings in this paper can provide an additional index to use for multi-objective structural optimization to find an optimum compromise between a lightweight design and the stiffness performance for high precision motion within a larger workspace.