Abstract
An index of motion-transmission characteristics τ of the planar six-link mechanism with a prismatic pair is presented through investigations of the sensitivities of the angular and linear displacements of the links to the deviations of the kinematic constants and the forces acting on the pairs due to the external forces on the links. Generally speaking, the average of the sensitivities S and the average of the forces acting on the pairs F decrease rapidly in the interval [0, 0.3] and slowly in the [0.3, 1]as τ increases. The τ-S and τ-F relations are approximated to the regions bounded by two rectangular hyperbolas. Consequently, it is possible to estimate the values of S and F for any mechanism at the given crank angle by means of τ.
