DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURING THE ELASTIC PIVOTS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TOMANUFACTURING ERROR

The stiffness of an elastic pivot, a kind of torsional hinge, must usu ally be small in the direction of axial rotation and high in all other directions. In some applications, such as the gimbal suspension of th e tuned gyroscope in an inertial guidance system, the size of the elas tic pivot is small, and consequently the pivot becomes very sensitive to machining error. In this paper, we model the machining error in ter ms of the position error and roll-pitch-yaw angle error of the electro de in the electric discharge machining process. In the corresponding d esign problem, we recommend design procedures that allow a compromise between product performance and manufacturability. This paper introduc es different types of elastic pivots, analyzes machining error due to machining inaccuracy, and treats the shape optimization. We believe th at the design-for-manufacturability methodology developed here will be helpful in the design of many other precision mechanical components.