Abstract
A study of static flexibility and kinematics of a tripod boom with different kind of joint combinations is presented. In the tripod boom there are parallel modules each of which consists of three hydraulic cylinder, a telescope and triangular plates. The cylinders are connected with the vertices of triangular plates and the telescope is connected with the midpoint of the plate. Different kinds of joints could be used to reach different kind of workspace and appropriate number of degrees of freedom. The parallel modules are spatially connected together. The flexibility of structure is studied and optimized while varying dimensions and positions of boom. Also effects of different kind of joints on the kinematics are studied. AGIFAPanalysis program, which could be used in finite element analysis of beam structures is employed in these studies. A flexibility study through computer simulation, including maximum deformations, is presented.
