Articles | Volume 4, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/ms-4-345-2013
https://doi.org/10.5194/ms-4-345-2013
Research article
 | 
15 Oct 2013
Research article |  | 15 Oct 2013

New empirical stiffness equations for corner-filleted flexure hinges

Q. Meng, Y. Li, and J. Xu

Abstract. This paper investigates the existing stiffness equations for corner-filleted flexure hinges. Three empirical stiffness equations for corner-filleted flexure hinges (each fillet radius, r, equals to 0.1 l; l, the length of a corner-filleted flexure hinge) are formulated based on finite element analysis results for the purpose of overcoming these investigated limitations. Three comparisons made with the existing compliance/stiffness equations and finite element analysis (FEA) results indicate that the proposed empirical stiffness equations enlarge the range of rate of thickness (t, the minimum thickness of a corner-filleted flexure hinge) to length (l), t/l (0.02 ≤ t/l ≤ 1) and ensure the accuracy for each empirical stiffness equation under large deformation. The errors are within 6% when compared to FEA results.